Dark Days (or, Better Homes and Railways)

Last night we returned to the rooftop cinema (this time dressed in thermals) to see Marc Singer's absorbing documentary about homeless New Yorkers living in the city's subway system, Dark Days.

Dark Days is one of those Sundance success stories: untrained filmaker, good idea, many favours and an solid end product. Like the Blair Witch Project before it, Dark Days succeeds because of the tenacity and care of its maker.

Shot in black and white on 16mm, the film traces the lives of a handful of homeless people who have decided to set up lives under New York City to escape from the dangers above ground. And when I say set up lives, I mean set up lives. These guys have televisions, stovetops, beds, couches and pets. They even have surprisingly durable abodes. And they take care of their homes, painting them, cleaning them. It is quite a bizarre spectacle. Early in the film one of the young guys says, "I don't consider myself homeless, this is my home." And it is entirely conceivable that he could feel that way.

Like any doco of this sort, the subjects need to be engaging, and this underground crew does engaging by the binload. There are as many laugh out load moments as there are cringe-worthy ones. These guys are born performers and street philosophers, add crack into the mix and things just get crazy.

It could be said that Singer has chosen to skim over some of the more unsanitary problems inherent in homelessness, or that he has not filmed the less palatable inhabitants of the subway system but in doing so he has been able to bring an important issue to the public in a purposeful and engaging manner.

Well worth a look.