Dark Days

2000 documentary

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Marc Singer films the people living by the Amtrak tracks in underground tunnels beneath New York City.

So this guy Marc Singer makes this one documentary and then decides it's enough of a legacy and makes nothing else. He's like the Jeff Mangum of documentary film-making. The tone's set early with the more-black-than-white photography and a pan along the "homes" of these people accompanied by a D.J. Shadow track. Of course, you know exactly what the movie's about, and almost immediately, you feel the situation as you see these rickety shacks. Then, you get to meet the people, and although some are a little strange--my favorite, Lee, who hams it up a bit for Singer's camera ("He eats martians!')--most are relatively grounded who have survived difficulties and have managed to live in the dark below the city for more years than you can imagine. Singer lets his camera do the talking here, and the shots we get are random--some full of meaning, poignant; some humorous, some, like a scene with a "toilet," just pretty darn gross; some heartbreaking. A new conflict is quickly introduced in the last fourth of this and too-quickly resolved. Prior to that storyline, the images and snippets of dialogue shared by these people who I doubt would consider themselves homeless make for some good movie poetry.