Dark Days

Dark Days (2000) is Marc Singer's documentary you can watch online on iFILM, shot entirely inside the disused railway tunnels beneath Manhattan. Down there, out of the daylight, a small community has built a life: plywood shacks, power tapped from the subway, pet dogs, and rats for neighbors.

Singer had never made a film before. He moved in, spent roughly two years filming his subjects in stark black and white, and the tunnel residents themselves helped lay track for the camera dolly and haul the gear. What comes out isn't a pity piece — it's a portrait of people with names, jokes, routines, and very different roads that led them underground. DJ Shadow supplied the gritty electronic score. The film swept three prizes at Sundance and still ranks among the most unflinching looks at homelessness ever put on screen. Stream Dark Days online on iFILM.