TIME OUT OF MIND

US, 2014, 120 minutes, Colour.
Richard Gere, Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, Steve Buscemi, Jeremy Strong, Kyra Sedgwick.
Directed by Oren Moverman.

In one sense, Time out of Mind is a difficult film to sit through. It is a two hour challenge to social conscience, especially considering American homelessness – and, by extension, homelessness throughout the world.

The film was written and directed by Oren Overman, a significant writer and director. His films include The Messenger, Rampart (both with Woody Harrelson) and The Dinner (with Richard Gere).

The film was also a tour-de-force for Richard Gere who is on screen, centre, throughout the whole film. Despite his film star past, he is persuasive as George, a man whose wife has died, who has lost his job, alienating his daughter, suffers from bouts of mental illness, who has been 10 years on the street. Here is persuasive in his appearance, manner of speech, walking gait, often with close-ups of his face and his indicating interior thought, feeling, disturbance.

The film shows the range of New York city itself, often with crowds, passing the homeless in the street. There are also glimpses of considerate people who help the homeless. George wanders the streets, sometimes begging, getting coats from charities and then selling them for food, with a drinking problem. He also rides the subway, observing people.

One of the surprises is that he doesn’t have any documents for identification and has managed without them. Throughout the film, he is interviewed by various agencies, some trying to help, some being constructively, some bureaucratic. However, he does find a place in a shelter to which he can return each night.

The film also shows various encounters, his watching his daughter (Jena Malone), later going to the diner where she works, her impatience with him. There is also a very talkative old African- American man, played by Ben Vereen, who tags along with George, sometimes irritating him, sometimes supporting him. There is a racist man who take shelter, with his rants. There is a kindly owner of a diner who gives George some food. There is also a bag lady and George mistakenly identifies her as his friend Sheila with whom he spends a night on the streets. She is played by Kyra Sedgwick.

The film is fairly relentless in its portraying George, the difficulties of homelessness, the small details of humiliation, life in the shelter, the incessant talking, the problems of the others in the shelter.

However, the film offers an opportunity, while admiring the performance of Richard Gere, to give some sympathy and empathy to those who are homeless, to those who are not immediately sympathetic, but who are the poor of the world.

1. The impact of the film? A film about homelessness? Wanting audiences to identify as all as observing? A New York story, universal story?

2. The sequences in New York City, the streets, the buildings, diners, shelters, the churches, offices? Authentic feel? The musical score?

3. The director, his films and writing, social concerns?

4. The presence of Richard Gere, a tour-de-force performance? Engaging audiences and opening their appreciation of homelessness?

5. The audience meeting George, sleeping in the building, the attack of the manager, George and his begging to stay, his memories of Sheila?

6. George, his age, his clothes (and getting coats from stores and selling them)? His manner of speech, walking and gait, distracted? His drinking? Finding food?

7. The range of his encounters in New York City?

• His daughter, estrangement, seeing her with her friend, sending the photos into the diner, the past and the alienation, his return to the shop, their verbal clashes, emotional differences, her disdain, his wanting to buy the drink, wanting to get his birth certificate, their talk, her hesitation, following him?

• Dixon, his age, on the streets, his incessant talk, following George, in the shelter, continuing to talk, alienating people? Alienating George? The visit to the diner, his talk about being a musician, sitting at the piano, not playing? His disappearance and the effect on George?

• The bag lady, George thinking she was Sheila, their talk, the sexual encounter, her robbing him?

• The considerate man at the diner, listening to them, giving them food, the issue of the piano, his meeting George again and his sympathy?

• The racist man at the shelter, his tirades?

• The variety of officials, at the shelter, interactions with the police?

• the variety of agencies, the interviews, George and his response, sometimes cooperative, sometimes critical? The issue of his identity, benefits, the demands for identification, his trying, the birth certificate? His needs?

8. The gradual revelation of his past story, his wife, death, losing his job, on the streets, mental collapse, the hospitality women, his being homeless for so long?

9. His walking around the city, riding the subway, watching people, wary and weary? Any ultimate hope?