Houseless (2013)
Satyran 9 points 3 years ago. (Contains Spoilers)

This is a very strange film. It purports to show the harmony between the homeless population of Isla Vista and the college students, yet, at the 15 minute mark, a male college student aggressively encourages Pirate Ray to smoke a cigarette through his eye socket (because Ray has a missing eye). The level of novel exploitation is palpable throughout the film, even if the students act like they are “helping” they really are just exploiting the homeless population for either entertainment or to make themselves feel like they are doing something positive. Even this documentary uses the homeless as a sort of side show attraction. HEY EVERYONE! LOOK AT HOW WEIRD THESE PEOPLE ARE! ISN”T IT GREAT HOW NICE WE ARE TO THEM! Here’s a thought, try putting down the camera and actually helping the homeless. Videotaping some drunk college kid forcing an old man to smoke a cigarette through his eye isn’t “shedding light on the problem”. It’s exploitation, Pure and simple. On top of it all, this documentary is pretty boring to boot. Nothing is truly explained or researched, no answers are sought, no questions really asked, in some ways it is just an odd collection of clips, loosely linked because they contain some of the same people. It’s everything wrong about internet based amatuerization of the film industry. I only regret that I cannot give this film negative stars.