Titicut Documentary Blog. Documentary film reviews & filmmaking

Bemuse yourself as Pras from The Fugees abondons the opulent lifestyle of a commercial hip hopper to experience a few hours of life on LA’s Skid Row. His attempts at documenting homelessness, violence and drug abuse, though well-intentioned, are needlessly clandestine and at times he has to play dumb when his subjects don’t take kindly to being filmed from across the road. It’s a self-preserving, rather ugly manipulation of the subjects he purports to empathise with.

There is an obvious vanity in the self-reflexivity of Skid Row. Various cumbersome and argumentative monologues show Pras cutting sick at his film ‘crew’ and it’s apparent he’s completely out of place on the streets. He appears to be more worried about protecting his own hide rather than conveying his blunt, undeveloped ideas. If you must watch a documentary that features a Fugee, Wyclef Jean’s appearance in Ghosts of Cité Soleil will surely suffice.

The film is a misguided, somewhat unintelligent exploration of one of the most horrific urban slums in the USA. Pras’ glamour shot on the cover of the DVD is a dire indicator which correctly implies that we’ll learn little about Skid Row.

There are many, well-conceived and touching documentaries about homelessness, unfortunately, Skid Row ain’t one of them.

Titicut Rating: 1.5 / 5

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Documentary Reviews homelessness, Marshall Tyler, Niva Dorell, Pras, Ross Clarke, self-reflexive, Skid Row, The Fugees

Like many good documentaries, Streetwise came to life after Martin Bell read an article about the homeless situation in downtown Seattle. This Academy Award nominated film depicts street robbers, junkies, whores, fags and squatting bohos as you’ve never seen them before. Your average New York ’street’ doco pales in comparison. Streetwise gets straight into the subcultural underpinnings of street life in a raw observational style.

The film’s humanising perspective is bolstered by interview-style narration from by the street kids. Not once are we confronted with ‘talking-head’ interview footage, with Bell instead opting to cut the extensively captured dialogue to observational footage of each character. As they roam the streets and interact with one another, the city and its occupants literally pass the kids by. Pedestrians rub shoulders with the kids, oblivious to the various altercations which take place as part of their daily life. Through masterfully shot footage, captured by a very small production crew, we are made constantly aware of the kids underclassed existence; they are the forgotten, failed and ignored products of a modern society.

The film is peppered with cautionary, to-the-point insights from its young teenage subjects, who all speak in the insightful manner of adults far beyond their own years. While they convey their philosophies on survival practices; comparing the relative virtues of ho’ing versus dumpster diving, these shocking realities are mitigated by child-like moments that occasionally seep through. The kids have crushes on each other, they laugh and joke like any 14 year olds might do, but these relationships seem ersatz and exist, it seems, for reasons of survival more so than comanionship.

The kids are not completely dispossessed however, and we eventually hear from some of the parents, who predictably have problems of their own. One mother states in denial, that her teen prostitute daughter is ‘just going through a phase’, while an imprisoned father attempts to discipline his street kid son from behind bars.

The only respite from all this is the film’s hilariously dated, diagetic 80s music. Oftentimes, The Eurythmics or The Human League can be heard emanating from boomboxes on the street. In fact, the only non-diagetic music (that which is added in post-production) comes during the final moments of the film, as provided by a well-meaning Tom Waits. The lack of post-production glitz shouldn’t scare you though, as its entirely congruous with the style and subject matter of Streetwise.

In my travels I’ve read of a follow up film which was produced 20 years after Streetwise. It picks up on the story of Erin (Tiny) who is now apparently a middle-aged mother. It’s great to know at least one of the film’s characters is off the streets, but this probably won’t be of much comfort when you are watching Streetwise.

Titicut Rating: 4.5 / 5

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Related Documentaries:

Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (2000), directed by Steven Okazaki.
Dark Days (2001), directed by Marc Singer.

Documentary Reviews homelessness, Martin Bell, observational

Pedal is a personal favourite of mine. A grainy, DV look at the subculture of New York City’s bike messengers, it’s an absorbing mix of rather eccentric characters and their backstories, seredipitous moments of participatory filmmaking and hair-raising action sequences amidst city traffic.

The film is a neat package, humbly encapsulating many of the elements that draw me to the documentary form. It’s one of those docos you suspect will immerse you in another reality you know little about, and Peter Sutherland’s film delivers. You always knew there was more to bike couriers than just riding around delivering corporate mail… right?

Adding to its low-budget appeal, there is a general sense of theatricality about the film, maintained by forgoing narration and allowing the cyclists themselves to guide us through their world of tribulations and fixed-gear, mid-city recklessness. Of course, Pedal is far from being another vapid sports documentary and is likely to appeal to any documentary enthusiasts, cyclist or not. Highly recommended viewing.

Titicut Rating: 4 / 5

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Documentary Reviews bikes, couriers, cyclists, homelessness, messengers, New York City, Peter Sutherland, sport