Frank Kuenstler

An American abstract fantasy film directed by Frank Kuenstler.

This experimental short by New York poet Frank Kuenstler features footage shot in the 1950s of the now-vanished Third Avenue El, set to a soundtrack of Kuenstler playing a toy piano.

Barbara, a young woman consumed by despair, contemplates suicide, while a man she meets in a church and a married couple struggle to persuade her that life is still worth living. Mekas’s film weaves this intimate drama into a larger reflection on alienation, politics, and the turbulence of early 1960s America.