Where the Day Takes You

As the post-Oscar dregs of cinema assault our screens and our senses, it is hard to feel optimistic about the state of movies. Even the "critically acclaimed" films, the overblown Hollywood epics and avant-garde, artsy pics can seem impersonal and calculating; with some exceptions, there are few movies out there that strike us at a gut level, that resonate, and that restore our faith in the power of film. That is why it is all the more surprising to experience those emotions from a picture that no one talks about that never garnered critical acclaim, one that was never even widely released. Yet Where the Day Takes You is a complicated, nuanced and beautifully constructed little movie, featuring some stand-out performances from some familiar faces; it is just the type of film to make us believe in movies again.

The lives of kids, of runaways, hustlers, dealers, and junkies living on the streets of L.A. may seem inescapably melodramatic, yet Marc Rocco manages to avoid almost all the mistakes a director can make when handling such material. The film begins with the voice-over narration of 'King' (Dermot Mulroney) being interviewed for un-disclosed purposes by an anonymous interviewer (Laura San Giacomo, who manages to express such emotion with her voice that the quick shots of her face, her eyes and expressions are almost superfluous) King is revealed as being "21, 22, not sure" and the rest of his past is hazy too, his relationship to his parents is severed, and he has just gotten out of prison. But all that doesn't matter because King's got two theories on life: "You try not to get too high or too low, you just watch your back," and "my friends are my family." The film takes both those statements and rolls them through its fingers the way King roles quarters, playing them off each other, weighing the value, yet, ultimately letting the viewer make the final judgment as to the weight of King's ideology. And this unbiased view is what truly makes this film unique; the film presents us with the story of King and his 'family' without bias. The empathy the viewer feels, the resonant power of the characters, is not achieved through a lens tinted with political correctness; instead the characters are presented flawed, human and real, both the victims of and the manufacturers of their circumstance.

The plot is loosely developed as King reunites with his friends, his family, all played with startling awareness by actors such as Baltazer Getty, Sean Astin, Will Smith, and, of all people, Ricki Lake, all chewing up their roles as though they somehow sense that this might be their last chance to embody such complex and culturally resonant characters. Sean Astin is both maddening and heartbreaking as a seventeen year old coke addict, Greg, irrevocably tied to

his dealer, Ted, played by a snakelike, muscularly evil Kyle Maclachlan. Balthazar Getty is similarly a manifestation of innocence and premature worldliness as Little J. King's brotherly fondness for Little J. and his wish to protect both him and Greg places him as the central father figure, yet his position will be challenged both by Ted and the older man who buys the services of Little J.

Laura Flynn Boyle arrives on the scene in the role of Heather, a runaway who falls for King in spite of herself. Unfortunately Boyle is a weak point; despite her waifish appearance and sweet smile, her motivations are muddled, she projects neither the total desperation to escape her old life or the utter naiveté that would somehow make her involvement with King and his cohorts understandable. Compared to the depth of sadness and complex emotions reflected in the eyes of the other runaways, she reveals nothing and comes off as sweet, but vapid and trite, her character superfluous. Yet there is power in her interactions with King, specifically the train jumping scene which is both visually haunting and symbolically poignant; the train becomes the life that King and his Family have jumped onto, for better or worse, and the speed, the unstoppable force and intensity, the powerful momentum of their ride makes getting off impossible. Moreover, initially it might seem like a rush, but the train has to stop somewhere.

Rocco uses symbolism with images and themes in a way that never becomes trite or trying. His images of falling, of King's initial descent into the arms of his friends when he first sees them again, of falling quarters and bodies, of jumping onto trains all engage the viewer with implications about risk and trust, about the freedom to fall and the assurance that someone will be there to catch you. Rocco plays too with the concept of Family; by presenting characters scarred, abused or betrayed by their blood-relatives, he subverts the traditional model, implying that the familial roles are malleable, applicable to the relationship between a hustler and his John, a junkie and his dealer, yet never shirking to examine the repercussions of those bonds.

Indeed, there is little that Where the Day Takes You avoids revealing, including its audiences own innate biases. At one point the interviewer refers to King as "such a character," revealing a pervasive conception of these street-kids as "characters," dramatic and surreal, merely actors on a stage; it is easier to ignore them if we do not have to realize the truth of their reality. Yet in this film we cannot turn away from and although, in 1992, it fell victim to the Hollywood industrial machine that promotes only 'bankable' films, it deserves more. So see it, get your friends to see it, even if it's under the ironic pretense of seeing Christian Slater

sitting behind the desk at a rehab clinic, or Laura Flynn Boyle scarfing a hamburger, Sean Astin sans Bilbo and Dermot Mulroney unencumbered by weddings, Julia and Cameron.

The soundtrack filled with bluesy Melissa Etheridge tunes and the recurrent chorus of Cat Stevens' "There's something happening here," is never manipulative but adds weight and gravity to sweeping shots, the close-ups and evocative images of gritty street realities juxtaposed with all the trappings of Hollywood. So see it and talk about it, it is one of the few movies out there that truly deserves-and rewards-our attention.

Movie Grade: A

DVD Grade: B

Overall Grade: A-