Homeless in America

Hi, I am Jani Beck. I am listed as having been homeless and in the documentary on this website. It is true that I am in the documentary, but it is NOT true that I was homeless. I was hanging out with a few of my homeless friends back then, and the people doing this documentary came. They asked us if we wanted to be in it and told us what it was about. I told them right away, that I don't want to be in it because I was NOT homeless. But they said that I should be in it anyway, just as a friend of the homeless, so I thought, okay, why not. As they started filming they went down the line and then came to me. The first question that was asked was "How long have you been homeless for?" I was really confused at first, but then since I did not want to spoil their film, I played along and said "Not long" or something like that. Well, I just wanted to let you know that I was never homeless and in this, by mistake, I believe you could say.

I enjoyed watching this documentary about the homeless. I would like to see the homeless in the USA because this only showed homeless in one area. I am from an area where homeless are a dime a dozen and I would never even talk to them. This documentary makes me feel like I am having a conversation with the homeless. This wasn't as long and boring as I thought because I am not a fan of documentaries but this one was enjoyable to watch. It made me see homeless in a better light. I will keep this movie as part of my collection of great movies. I wished my film teacher would show this documentary over their old ones because this is more up to date and we can relate to it.

I suppose "Homeless in L.A." didn't sound big enough, HUUUHHH? You can tell that you are getting yourself into something special before the actual film even starts. At the very beginning you get the "Wiseau Films™" intro we know from 'The Room' that I can swear is basically stolen from another movie production intro (including the music). Then comes "Wiseau~Films ™ Presents" (yes, it actually uses "~". Then "Produced by Tommy Wiseau". Then the movie title in some Gothic-looking font. Then "A Wiseau-Films Production". And finally "Directed by Tommy Wiseau". So much for the first 40 seconds.

After the credits - which end with "Concept by Tommy Wiseau" - you get a narration by a guy who sounds like a light version of Tommy Wiseau. He's got his funky accent but only lightly. The narrator gives us a speech that he apparently stole from a 4th grader who had to do a presentation on homelessness. It starts: "The city of Los Angeles-es rate of homeless-ness is higher than the US average because it has a higher rate of poverty and higher housing costs. 84,000 people were homeless EACH night in L.A. County alone according to a 1995 study..."

At the beginning it seems that the interviewer's investigatory questioning will never go beyond: "OK, your name is?" "And how long have you been living on the street, [ name ]?" They possibly all gave fake names (like "Lester Walter McDonald") but some fake names are more obvious and of course it all remains uncommented. Am I right, Ghost, Batman and Minnie Mouse? (I'm not kidding, those are actually names that were given by the interviewees.) After almost ten minutes of this the film eventually comes back to many of those people and they are actually asked other questions.

Kaya Redford, the guy who's interviewing them, who did the narration at the beginning and who, besides Wiseau, is largely responsible for this film is the perfect mixture of Joe Dallesandro and Sam Worthington. As you can see on his IMDb page he's OBVIOUSLY a gym buddy of Wiseau's and one of his greatest hobbies seems to be getting photographs of himself with famous people and putting them up on IMDb (WOW, did you see him with Paris Hilton! Just WOW!). Imagine that guy with his long blond hair sitting next to homeless people acting all affected while they talk about how "homeless people are good people" and so on.

Eventually the documentary does become somewhat acceptable, as in you don't laugh all the way through it anymore, but of course it very much comes across as aimless and unstructured.

For fans of Tommy Wiseau as a person I'll warn you that he unfortunately isn't much in this movie. Only for a few seconds actually, holding up one hand for a high-five to that guy next to him asking: "How you doin', what's your name?" to which he replies while acting surprised that Wiseau talked to him: "How you doin', man, my name is Batman." Then Wiseau asks "How old are you now?" and gets the reply "I'm 24 years old", then it cuts away to the next scene. Neither of them were seen again in the film.

When I watched this documentary, I was at least entertained. It was interesting to see the thoughts and words that were shared by homeless people and local citizens in LA. However, the interviews were bad, for the most part. The interviewer wouldn't let them finish talking and would say what's your name? and how long have you been homeless? sometime he would go to personal. I have a feeling some people that were in there weren't even homeless. But when they were, I was entertained to hear them speak about their lives. But there were a LOT of flaws. It's isn't well categorized, and can be a bit corny, but if your mind is opened, you'll at least have a good time understanding poverty.

Absolutely amazing, Oscar worthy film. Wiseau is truly a master of filmmaking. This film shows compassion, and tells the viewer to "Give the homeless a hand up, Not a hand out" Great movie. Way better than all other documentaries ever made. The fact that this film didn't win an Oscar, much less be nominated, is disturbing. Great piece of filmmaking.