American Street Kid

A brilliant, poignant, heartfelt look at what may be the biggest crisis in our country, right now... homeless youth. This film takes you right on the front lines with a stark, honest look at what these young people go through, every day. As a native Los Angelino, I know all too well that the homeless live all around is; practically invisible to those they pass every day. This film forces you look at these kids,as real people and not just a statistic...in a gripping and emotional way. Thank you, to the filmmakers, for shining a light on this very important topic. A wonderful film, overall. Bravo!

An excellent, real, factual and emotionally charged look into what one caring person can help to facilitate a transformation, even if it's just one person, I believe it's more than most people have done for someone in their lifetime. It's a conscience that led to a real life change for those who needed it most. A blueprint for how we can start to make a real and lasting lifelong impact on those who are the most vulnerable and never had a chance. So inspiring to see some actual good in this world that ripples through to the core of the problem, the facts and what is needed in this corrupt system of doomed failure to thrive. I am going to try and see if I can give back something too. Thank you. I will let you know if it works out!! "Be the change you want to see"?!

The director steps out from behind the camera on this one and becomes personally involved with the homeless kids he's filming in this surprisingly uplifting documentary.

There are certainly subjects followed in this story for whom your heart just breaks. Some of them disappearing, never to be heard from again. Frightening though to entertain. But there are others who manage to lift themselves up, and fall back down, then get up again and succeed. That makes this documentary a hopeful representation of a serious epidemic happening to kids on the streets today.

Even though this film is now several years old, you need only head down to the streets of Venice or Santa Monica to see more kids just like these living this same life. I think the film can turn some really hardened hearts (especially those in Southern California witnessing a disproportionate amount of homelessness) a little softer and help us remember that these a somebody's children - young and old.

I grew up across the street from a group home. Those kids were a HOT MESS. Most are dead now, drugs. Prison, jail, drugs, producing their own messed up kids. It's very accurate. These are kids, you can't expect them to act like adults. Also they'll never have good lives, it's too late, their mentality is so gone. Sadly most will die early, prison, drugs and kids who are also molested by others. It's just sad that I knew these kids in the 80s and they're exactly the same as they were then, same services, same lack of help, same broken foster care system. Most of us don't want the problems that come with foster care kids. You get attached to them and they just take them away. It's why I would never do it. My aunt used to take kids in and you spend holidays with them then they leave and you never see them again.

A man sets out to create a 2 minute PSA on homeless youth in the LA area, and ends up on a multi-year journey (while also working as a playwright and theater director) that becomes the feature length film we see. Along the journey he (filmmaker Michael Leoni) becomes very much involved in the lives of these youth, and as a consequence, very much a part of the film. This involvement gives insight to viewers that even so-called experts on the subject cannot have without spending time with the young subjects. He sees their struggles firsthand, sees the breakdowns at various levels when some try to improve their lives, and becomes a resource that many of them desperately need. His involvement adds immense value to the film, as he not only sees, but actually experiences, the failures in the system along with the subjects.

This is not a film for the faint of heart, as it is honest, and largely unfiltered. The young people who are the subjects of the film grow very comfortable with Michael over several years, and allow him to see and film things rarely caught on camera. However, this is not a film that in any way glorifies the behavior of it's subjects. It is one that attempts to show the struggles of these young people in a true light, the challenges they face, and ultimately discovers what may be the only way to solve this problem by finding out what these youth actually need.

I am hesitant to say this is the best documentary I have ever seen, because I watched it very recently so it is quite fresh in my mind, but it very well may be. Anyone who cares at all for their fellow people should see it, and may very well be inspired to get involved as a result.