Homelessness is an obvious problem in New York City. Pedestrians are bombarded with horrific human decay on every corner; no matter which neighborhood, there are rotting, drunken people in years-old sweatpants, sleeping on cardboard and begging for a metro swipe. This undignified image (not to mention smell), no matter how sad, makes homelessness an easy problem to avoid in the day-to-day. Thomas Whirthenson’s gorgeous documentary HOMME LESS turns that whole idea on its head.
The film explores a less visible kind of homelessness in Mark Reay, an actor, fashion photographer, and former international model. Reay is something of a silver fox, aging but handsome, flitting about to the best parties, and obsessed with beautiful young women. It’s not until we’ve fallen in love with his glamorous lifestyle that Reay brings us onto the roof of an East Village apartment building, the roof he has called home for the last five years.
HOMME LESS digs deeply into the hard soul of New York City, a place where the fantasy you deliver is worth more than the hardship you live. And unfortunately, Reay’s fantasy isn’t worth enough. In order to afford the necessary lifestyle that accompanies his passion and profession, he must sacrifice life’s most basic comforts, a soft bed and four walls. In a city famed for “the American Dream,” are these the sorts of compromises one must make? This is the question Whirthenson explores.
With beautiful visuals that come from Whirthenson’s own background in fashion photography, HOMME LESS is a slow, meditative, burn on what it takes to survive and whether or not it’s really worth it. As we get to know Reay, it’s hard to tell where he stands. Although he prides himself in making it work, he often has emotional breakdowns, questioning his whole life’s path. In an especially poignant moment after drunkenly celebrating his birthday, Reay looks to the camera and addresses the audience directly. If you could pay to see this film, you have a certain moral obligation to toss him a buck or a couch for the night, he says. And he’s right. HOMME LESS points the camera to us, other New Yorkers, other struggling artists, other survivors, and says here’s the problem, here’s how you can think about it, here’s how you can help.
