Makeshift (for Mekas)

Jem Cohen’s memory-tribute to Jonas Mekas displaces its first-person narration from voice-over to on-screen text. The two filmmakers had only a distant familiarity, but the older man influenced the younger, not only in the pursuit of a “cinema of the everyday”, but also by virtue of Anthology Film Archive’s eclectic programming of an “essential” film history (especially Dovzhenko) – projected without distracting subtitles! Diaristic New York street imagery from 2015 mingles with the red roses of Lithuania (Mekas’ birthplace) and a “makeshift memorial” to this beloved figure of the avant-garde. (Adrian Martin)