A little more than a decade after it originally dropped, and about 15 years since it was first filmed, Marc Singer’s haunting study of those who live in the Amtrak train tunnels gets a fancy new non Blu-ray release. The two disc set comes in a beautiful collector’s case and is stuffed to the brim with special features that Oscilloscope hopes will justify the $35 price tag they have saddled it with. I first watched it about three years ago and like everybody else I was blown away with the brilliant concept behind it and the seemingly bottomless bravery that must have been in place just to get it filmed. But sitting down this time around, now that shock value was no longer in play, I was disheartened to discover just how much had escaped me in the past few years. I remember the third act conflict/resolution vividly but I really had no recollection of any of the other heart-wrenching, funny, or just plain scary moments that came before it.
For those who aren’t familiar with Dark Days you should know that there is no real arc to it. There are those issues that I mentioned above but for the most part it is nothing more than director Marc Singer taking his spotlight and pointing it right at some of societies most forgotten and undesirable. It’s filmed in slightly blurry, surrealistic black and white and to me that was the most important decision Singer made during the production of his film. Everything that is already disturbing about these people and this environment is amped up through the roof by the cinematography. Had he gone the other way (and finances may have been the reason he didn’t) and let the colors shine on through we definitely would have had a better sense of what this place was and how things really were, but it also would have stripped it of the horror movie sensations that seep into the experience. Singer also does an amazing job of taking a large cast of characters and forcing us to care about each one of them on some level even while we may be entirely grossed out by their dietary habits, four legged living companions, and extreme drug consumption.
And that really pays off near the end when the good folks at Amtrak decide to pull a power play and start evicting their unwanted tenants at gunpoint. Not that their point of view is completely incomprehensible but their iron-fisted tactics are repugnant and serve as a reminder that in a strictly hierarchical society such as ours it’s all too easy to compile more for yourself by taking from those below you. Before all that though there are some fine moments that really should stick in your memory even if they didn’t stick in mine. By and large the place is a boy’s club which may be why the character that really stood out to me was the lone female Dee. She has a personality all her own but also a severe dependence on the crack pipe. At one point she learns that hard way that just like above ground if you piss the wrong person off they will burn your house down. She seems oddly nonplussed by that, however her full blown freak out over a missing cup provides the best scene in the movie. She has a give and take with fellow resident Ralph over the missing cup that ventures into high comedy when he begins to try and convince her that her cherished possession was actually purchased at McDonald’s.
I will say that while the film does scream at you and absolutely demands that you pay attention to it it does suffer through some dry patches and feels lengthy at a mere 85 minutes. There is no narration and no overt leading by the director, and while that is sure to be appreciated by documentary purists I think in this case it could have provided some much needed lube. More than anything I found it interesting this time around to examine my take on these people, pretty much the head of the class as far as misfortune goes. Of course I recognized how good I have it, how good most of us have it in the Western world but also knowing that on some level these people did this to themselves. Everybody has a sad story but in these cases theirs are sadder than most which makes the ending that much more endearing even if it is cut with anxiety about what awaits around the corner for them.
Without question the special feature to watch is The Tunnel Today, a 21 minute mini-doc that follows Marc Singer in 2011 as he ventures back into the tunnels for only the second time since he filmed the movie. Shot it color and featuring the man who I viewed to be the main villain in the story this short turned a lot of my assumptions on their head. Watch with amazement as said villain turns out to be good guy who was perhaps just cut improperly. If you have already seen the movie I would recommend watching this doc before sitting down for a second or third viewing of the feature.
There are also oodles of deleted scenes but that list can be deceiving. The top of the list has a spectacular conversation that involves a story about another homeless person who caught, skinned and tried to cook a cat but after that things kind of fall off. Many of the deleted scenes have poor sound and/or video and a lot of them should have stayed in the trash bin. There is also a 45 minute doc on the making of Dark Days that felt rote and not worth it.
The DVD market is a tricky one to navigate these days as if you want to keep prices low you pretty have to provide the film and little else, something anybody can get from Netflix for a few bucks a month. But to make the purchase worthwhile, to cram in a bunch of special features be they worth it or not, cost money and that cost is passed along to the customer. Yes, this DVD is awesome and would make a great contribution to any collection but $35 is still a steep price to pay especially considering that you are really only paying for the special features.
Oscilloscope presents Dark Days. Directed by: Marc Singer. Running time: 84 minutes. Rating: NR. Released on DVD: July 19, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.
