Dark Days (2001) | DVD Review

“You’d be surprised what the human mind and body can adjust to.” These words, uttered from one of the long time residents of the New York City underground railway tunnels near Penn Station, never rang so true. Always faced with torturous passers-by and police harassment, or the drug infected homeless shelters speckled throughout the city, hundreds of NYC homeless fled their park benches, and found refuge in the dark, rat infested tunnels beneath the pavement. An underground community of unfortunate misfits was born. Taking anything, and everything off the streets, and out of garbages that they could use, these people constructed makeshift houses for themselves, even splicing into nearby power sources to run lights, televisions, refrigerators and whatever else they found. A Brit who had moved to New York in the early 90s, director Marc Singer took extreme interest in the city’s homeless, and shortly after finding the underground community, he moved into the tunnel himself, befriending the untouchables. With no prior filmmaking experience, he concocted a plan to create a documentary about the bizarre living situation, and its residents that would ultimately get them out of the tunnels, and back on track. The resulting film (winner of three Sundance awards and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature) empathetically depicts a disturbing lifestyle, lived out by people who made a series of poor choices, happened to draw the short straw, or a combination of the two. Kudos to Oscilloscope Laboratories for shedding a new light on the decade old film.

Not knowing anything about how to make a movie, Singer rented a 16mm camera, and used his new found homeless friends as his film crew. Despite the lack of technical knowledge, Singer’s eye for visuals is uncanny. He and his crew setup a variety of hauntingly beautiful shots using the abandoned tracks, and a hand-made dolly for movement. Once introducing us to the large cast of rather candid characters, the camera settles down into a observational-interview style in which the tunnel dwellers converse with each other and the camera, reflecting on their calamitous lives, how they ended up in the tunnel, and how they survive on a daily basis. Too proud or too embarrassed to lean on their families, these people do what they can to support themselves, despite their primitive situation.

Dark Days is an unimaginable story, skillfully documented by a passionate film making novice, and wonderfully scored by the high profile DJ Shadow. Singer’s goal was to help the people of the Amtrak tunnels, and he did, but in the process he showed the world that the unfortunate are still humans, despite their outward appearance. They have hopes, dreams, regrets and feelings just like the rest of society. They may be a little eccentric, but living in such extreme conditions will tend to do that to a person. Singer presents them as such.

Oscilloscope’s new two disc DVD release presents the film in its original anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio, and looks quite good despite the limited 16mm format used to film. An all new digital transfer of the film was made from the original 35mm telecine. The image is expectedly grainy, and the contrast is reasonable. There is the occasional scratch or blemish that flashes on the screen, but this is inherent to the project. The stereo track is generally low key, reproducing conversation well, and DJ Shadow’s pulsing soundtrack with ease. English subtitles are included for if you have trouble understanding some of the broken English that comes from the tunnel dwellers’ mouths.

Singer’s empathy for these people is incredibly evident throughout the film, but his yearning to help them to a better place in life becomes much clearer in the many extra features packed on the second disc of Oscilloscope’s 10 Year Anniversary release of the film.

Audio commentary with director Marc Singer
As commentaries go, Singer’s spotty highlights are rather sleepy. Large gaps of the film pass without him mentioning anything at all. When he does, you may have already heard the story several times from one of the many other, better extras included in the package.

The Making of Dark Days, a doc from 2000 featuring interviews with Marc Singer, DJ Shadow, and others
A comprehensive 40 minute making of featurette that chronicles Singer’s incredible journey to his involvement in the project, and how the project ultimately got the funds to be finished. There are a nice variety of interviews that delve into how everyone came to work on the film as well.

The Tunnel Today, director Marc Singer revisits the tunnel in 2011
This is only Singer’s second visit to the tunnel since the completion of the film, and it looks drastically different now, after being thoroughly cleaned, and bathed in the glow of sunlight trickling through the overhead grates. He describes some of the experiences he had in the tunnels with people he met, as well as where some of the locations in the film were.

Fragile Dwelling, an all new photo essay featuring photographs by Margaret Morton
Running about 30 minutes, Morton gives a photographic history of NYC homeless from the 80s onward. Some of the characters found in Dark Days cross into her piece as well. The essay is a slide show of the incredible creative force of human survival, as well as the ridiculous, and atrocious acts of human intolerance. A fitting companion piece.

Dark Days Design, a look at the typography with title designer Jay Hillyer
A short featurette looking at Singer’s vision came to involve a young art student by the name of Jay Hillyer. The piece looks at the progression of the lettering from graffiti style to a streetwise, but easily readable middleground. Short, but sweet.

Life After the Tunnel, an update on the characters
After the completion of the film, Singer kept in contact with most of the people from his film, some who managed to get their life on track, while others lives came to a tragic end. The short piece is audio played over top of still images from the film.

Introduction with former New York City Mayor David Dinkins and Q&A with Singer and Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless Mary E. Brosnahan at the Maysles Cinema in 2011
Fairly self explanatory, Dinkins’s intro imparts some facts and stories of his experiences with the homeless, followed by a standard Q&A session that speaks more about the homeless situation today, as well as covering some of the ground already covered in some of the other features.

Original theatrical trailer
Unfortunately in a 4:3 aspect ratio, the film’s short trailer gives you just a small, gritty taste of what the film harbors.

Parallel Universe, an exclusive essay by film critic Kenneth Turan
A smart dissection by one of the best film critics writing today.

Oscilloscope Labs continue releasing important urban documentaries, and have compiled quite a load of special features to accompany this excellent film. Though not making the leap to Blu-ray, the film still looks most likely the best it ever will. Staying with the Oscilloscope tradition, the discs come packaged in a beautiful cardboard gatefold, strewn with images of the tunnel, and housed in a simple cardboard dust jacket. The 10 Year Anniversary upgrade is well worth another trip into the dark.

Movie rating – 4.5

Disc Rating – 4.5