Search - Dark Days on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Movie Release: 2000 DVD Release: 09/25/2001 Format: DVD - Black and White,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 24 mins Studio: Lions Gate Members Wishing: 5 Genres: Culture & Society, Biography, Social Issues

Novice filmmaker Marc Singer lived in the bowels of a midtown Manhattan railway station for two years to shoot this harrowing account of the day-to-day existence of the homeless. Shot in noirish black and white, Singer shows how society's discarded and disenfranchised fashion a community of sorts in the sunless labyrinth of the station's transit tunnels. Though told without narration, a dozen or so individual stories emerge. Dee (the sole woman depicted in the film) lost all her children in a house fire while she was high on crack; Ralph remains inconsolable after his five-year old's rape and mutilation during a stint in prison. In the final reel, Amtrak sends in armed police to clean out the tunnels, citing health concerns. However, the subterranean tenets happen upon a stroke of luck, as an NYC social worker discovers a cache of previously unclaimed public housing. Featuring a sparse soundtrack by DJ Shadow, Dark Days won the Grand Jury prize for cinematography, the Freedom of Expression award, and an audience award at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Marc Singer's powerful documentary about the New York City homeless who take shelter in the subway systems, Dark Days, comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. There are neither subtitles nor closed captions on this release. Supplemental materials include a documentary about the making of the film containing interviews with the director, 15 minutes of never-before-seen footage with commentary by Singer, biographies of the crew, the theatrical trailer, a follow-up by Singer, who checks on what happened to some of his subjects, and a history of the New York City subway tunnels. This is a superb disc from Palm that enhances the viewing of the film and may help the film find the audience that did not seek it out in theaters. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide