Multitalented artist and writer Harry Dodge (By Hook or By Crook, Cecil B. Demented) brings to life Olson's innovative story of a butch dyke in San Francisco searching for love and self-discovery. Against a backdrop of stunning 16mm landscape cinematography, this bold, lyrical voiceover film evolves from a lesbian lust story to an inventive documentary delving into explicit reflections on sexual encounters and offering up a quick look at Frank Capra’s 1941 melodrama Meet John Doe before embarking on the fascinating and previously untold history of the Golden Gate Bridge as a suicide landmark. A true San Francisco experience, The Joy of Life also includes poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti intoning his ode to the City by the Bay, “The Changing Light,” and features music from legendary poet-painter (and probable Golden Gate suicide) Weldon Kees.