The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1996)

Though eulogizing one of the most self-destructive icons of the Beat Generation, The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1996) is far more a love letter than a suicide note. Tire-changing mechanic and recreational sex maniac Neal Cassady was the great inspiration and irritation of 1950s author Jack Kerouac, who modeled the hero of his definitive On the Road after the libidinous and rambunctious Cassady. Based upon a letter from Neal to Jack, The Last Time I Committed Suicide paints a shadowy legend in cinematic lights, bringing to life all the conflict and yearning, the joy and the self-betrayal that hounded this icon of over-brimming life and companionship into an early and lonely death.