Dark Days explores the tunnels near Penn Station in New York City and gets to know the array of souls that call those tunnels their home. Director Marc Singer embedded himself among the people living in The Freedom Tunnel for a number of months before he decided to make a documentary about them in hopes of finding a way to raise some money to help them find a way out of their situation. For a crew, Singer had his subjects themselves help with the rigging and dolly work, and spent a number of years shooting on donated film stock – all of it in gloriously bleak black & white.
Singer’s rapport with his subjects is resonates throughout the film, and his painstaking process of crafting a honest portrait of their lives is a testament to his vision, this being the first film he ever made. This is an incredibly moving, insightful and original documentary, but somehow I only happened upon it through the soundtrack, composed by my favourite turntablist: DJ Shadow. Oddly enough, it turns out that Singer had paid out money to get Shadow to put together the soundtrack, only to find out he’d been scammed by some jackass promoter. When Shadow found out about it, and learned what the documentary was all about, he decided he’d hop aboard after all.
I’ve made my case for having my fill of doom & gloom documentaries, and while that might seem to be what this one is about, I’d say that this paints a portrait of life in the city. It doesn’t pander and it doesn’t preach, it shows their lives as they are and tells a compelling story in the process. That’s what I want from all my films, documentaries or not: to be entertained and enlightened, and Dark Days handles both criteria with respect and honesty.
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