Glasgow Film Festival 2015: Life's a Beach
An eccentric British offshoot of the great American tradition of striking out into the wild to live apart from society, Jerry 'Mungo' Francis has carved out a life for himself on a picturesque piece of English seaside. His handmade house is built of driftwood and powered by a generator salvaged from an abandoned car; he draws water from a nearby spring and raises chickens in his yard. His existence is far from ascetic and his philosophy is a little jumbled but he carries the spirit of Henry David Thoreau in his quest to live deliberately, independently and free.
John Baker's documentary ostensibly follows Jerry's legal battle to avoid eviction but mostly it's content to wander through the day to day of his unconventional lifestyle. The film never delves too deep into the man or his ideology. Instead it draws an endearing and simple portrait of a man who knew he wanted to live on a shack by the beach, believed he had the right to, and did.