Memorable, crazy movie

Best movie ever!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The documentary Dark Days created by Marc Singer shows a seemingly interesting inside scoop on the lives of the homeless who set up shelter in the New York City Amtrak system. This highly ambitious film was not as moving as one would hope. Singer did not include a variety of shots so I found myself getting bored, quick. The pacing of the film was painfully slow where each shaky hand held clip lasted long enough to lose my attention. I found myself questioning when the movie was ever going to end, it seemed like it never reached a climax and there was no real conflict shown in the film itself. The only scenes that I actually felt emotion for were when two of the homeless folks talked about the horrific events that happened to their children, other than that I slouched in my chair and pleaded for the ending to come soon. Singer had a topic with such high potential but he dropped the ball as far as captivating me visually and keeping me emotionally invested in his film.

Dark Days is a documentary about a group of people who lived in the Amtrak train tunnels under Manhattan, some for more than a decade until Amtrak officials finally evicted them. Filmed in grainy black and white and cut with an unforced rhythm that lets these people tell us their stories in their own words, Dark Days will make you think differently about homeless people."Nobody in his right mind would ever come down here", one of the men tells us, but it is for this very reason that he feels safer in the tunnel than up top, where anyone from mean cops to belligerent kids can hassle you and get away with it because you are homeless and in America, that means you don't have many rights. Interestingly, these people do not consider themselves homeless. True, their homes are just small shacks built in unused sections of train tunnels, but they are sturdy constructions made from old plywood and other lumber they have scavenged topside. They are furnished with sofas, beds, chairs and other items found in the trash. They have cleverly tapped into the city's power grid so they do have electricity for lights, small refrigerators and televisions.Some people insist that the homeless are just lazy and see their lack of property ownership as some type of moral failure. Although that is demonstrably not true, it is amazing how many people think these people choose this way of life. As for being lazy, they hunt for food in dumpsters, collect cans and bottles for recycling cash (they are more eco-friendly than most people with "real" homes) and they are a whiz at finding things in the trash like tossed out appliances that require only minor repairs to be good enough to sell.After watching these people hustle all day, you realize they sure put in a lot of hours for people who are supposed to be lazy. Still, it is fair to ask this question; how did these people come to live in a train tunnel? It is admirable they are surviving, but generally, people don't choose to live in train tunnels if they have some other option.It will not be a surprise to learn that among these tunnel denizens there is a big drug and alcohol problem. But then, drug and alcohol addiction is also a problem among people who have homes and jobs so the homeless are not unique in this regard.Director Marc Singer was living in New York when he heard unconfirmed stories about people living in unused train tunnels (specifically, the two mile stretch between 123rd St. to 72nd St.) and he sought them out initially to satisfy his own curiosity. Then, without any professional help, he began shooting in the tunnels using the homeless people themselves as a crew.There are aspects of this film that generally anger people. Some will protest that these tunnel dwellers don't pay any taxes. Well, they do pay sales taxes on everything they buy from milk to cigarettes. Some people are livid that they keep pets. I can only say that dogs and cats are able to fend for themselves pretty well and cats are good for rodent control, something that is necessary in a train tunnel. Also, while they are homeless, they are still human, they like the companionship a pet provides as much as anyone else.No, what angers most people about Dark Days is that it forces them to see themselves among these people. What they are and how they ended up in the tunnel is something that could happen to anyone. Most of us are only about ten paychecks away from the street as it is. You can ignore Dark Days if you want to, but you can't forget it.Eventually, citing safety reasons, Amtrak officials evicted these people harshly using armed Amtrak personnel. However, Marc Singer had grown protective of these people and he was determined to help them further. So, he worked with the Coalition For The Homeless in New York and he was able to help the tunnel people find apartments and get some of them jobs.The last scenes of Dark Days show us the new apartments. Contrary to wing nut lies about "luxury penthouses" given to Section 8 housing recipients, these apartments are not fancy, nor are they in upscale neighborhoods where they might ruin other people's property values. They are in fact, fairly cheap and small, with most consisting of a single bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and for some, a tiny living room. But, considering where these people have come from, these apartments are palaces. It is interesting to note that after being in the tunnels and disregarded by society for so long, when society finally gave these people a helping hand, they seemed to flourish. Perhaps it isn't fair, but you can judge a society by how it treats the poorest and most helpless of its members. So, what is the lesson I take away from Dark Days? Well, it is amazing how well some people will respond to a little help and compassion. So, instead of getting you hackles raised by manipulative junk like The Cove, forget the cetaceans for a moment and consider using your outrage and compassion to help your fellow man.If you like the hip, urban music used for the score, you can find most of the music on the 1996, DJ Shadow CD, Entroducing. . . and on the 1998, UNKLE CD, Psyence Fiction.

This movie really moved me and it makes me angry that our government can't provide some sort of shelter for people down on their luck. It was obvious that all of these people were just normal people like everyone else and just needed a place to stay.Our government takes all these taxes but can't provide anything for the residents of this country in hard times.The movie interviewed about 10 or 15 main people and showed how they lived from day to day. It really showed that these people were not so different from anyone else and how they just ended up down in the tunnels by accident. I thought this might be kind of boring since it was a documentary but it wasn't. It was a very interesting and well put together. I think the work put into this movie is why it didn't have the usual boring documentary format. The movie maker himself almost ended up down in the tunnels while trying to make this movie!This movie is a real work of art, lots of love was put into the making of this movie, with real people and real situations.

Just finished watching Dark Days and "WOW". Been a while since a movie touched me like that. I enjoyed the people and could somewhat identify with them; not that I have been homeless but close to it. This movie shows real heartfelt stories and makes you think a lot. To think that at the end they were all so happy for their new place. These people are amazing, Marc is amazing to have brought us these people and their story. I sincerely hope that they are all doing fine and enjoying their new places. Life is a battle but I saw some real winners tonight. Thank you. Thank you for the coalition to take part of the fight for human rights and to give a voice to the less fortunate.($) We are all the same and we should all be treated equally. It's sad to think that many times we are not heard simply because we live in a society that makes us different because of the size of our wallets. Let's not forget the most important lesson here, we are all special and unique in our own way.