Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit

Jonas Mekas curates a quiet, unvarnished record of the days surrounding Allen Ginsberg's passing. The camera moves through Ginsberg's apartment as he rests in bed, surrounded by close friends, his home a shrine of memory. The film follows the ritual of the Buddhist Wake, the slow removal of his body, and Mekas' own recollections of a last conversation with Allen from three days earlier. What unfolds is less a traditional biopic than an intimate ethnography of a poet's circle at a moment of transition. At a church-like temple on West 22nd Street, Patti Smith, Gregory Corso, LeRoy Jones-Baraka and others offer farewell across a sparse, hushed space. The piece favors stillness over commentary, inviting viewers to feel the quiet gravity.

Directed by Jonas Mekas, this 1997 documentary captures the Buddhist Wake surrounding Allen Ginsberg's passing. It foregrounds real life figures like Patti Smith, Gregory Corso, Amiri Baraka, and LeRoy Jones-Baraka as themselves.

Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit offers a rare, unfiltered glimpse into a late 20th century Beat circle at a time of personal farewell. It anchors the moment in the textures of friendship, ritual, and art, with conversations and performances that echo beyond the apartment.

Critics have described the work as a quiet, meditative document rather than a conventional biography. The film probes themes of memory, devotion, and mortality, presenting a portrait of a literary community grappling with what it means to say goodbye while keeping a life of art alive and honoring shared memory.