55. DARK DAYS
 
United States
dir. Marc Singer
world premiere 2000
U.S. release 2000
 

 
Because this non-fiction record of an entire society of homeless people living underground in the abandoned Amtrak tunnels of New York City ranks among the great shoulda-been hits of the decade. There is no substitute for the kind of documentary that emerges from years spent among one's subjects, and with their creative input. Even the (rare) flaws are suggestive; the peaks are dizzyingly high.