Years before the Beats arrived in San Francisco, the city exploded with artistic expression from painting, theatre, experimental film, and above all else, poetry. And the man at the centre of it all: James Broughton. Big Joy explores Broughton's passionate embrace of a life of pansexual transcendence and fiercley independent mantra. The story further spans the post war S. F. Renaissance; Broughton's influence on the upcoming poets; his escape to Europe during the McCarthy years; a lifetime's enjoyment in his joyous personal films and poetry celebrating the human body; finding his soul mate at 61 and his ascendancy as a revered head of sexual liberation. This is all good, but there were aspects of the doc that rather displeased me more than pleased me. Not everything comes across as playful and joyous. I wouldn't look upon this "follow your own weird" life as a totally satisfactory one. It's not the life I would want, but I do celebrate that he moved the heavens to have the exact life he wanted.
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