
Dark Days
Beneath Penn Station, in an active Amtrak tunnel, a community of homeless New Yorkers has built shacks with stolen electricity, kept pets, and made a life underground. British filmmaker Marc Singer lived among them for months before shooting a frame, then trained several residents to work as his crew, handling lights, sound, and camera setup. Shot in black and white, the film lets its subjects narrate their own histories directly to camera: how crack, family breakdown, or job loss put them in the tunnel, and how they built routines of scavenging, cooking, and looking out for each other in total darkness lit by candles and stolen power. Amtrak's decision to clear the tunnel drives the film's back half, as residents face eviction and the uncertain promise of housing vouchers above ground. DJ Shadow's score runs under long stretches with no dialogue, and the effect is closer to observation than argument. The result is a document made with its subjects rather than about them.