Time Out of Mind
starring Richard Gere, Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, Kyra Sedgwick, Jeremy Strong, Yul Vazquez, Michael Kenneth Williams and Steve Buscemi
screenplay by Oren Moverman
directed by Oren Moverman
Rating: ♦♦♦◊◊
Called “Lost in Manhattan” here - a good name - Time Out of Mind is an unsettling movie to watch. But I think it’s a movie you ought to see if you are a thoughtful person or a Richard Gere fan. Gere portrays George, a homeless man in New York trying to negotiate the system of shelters, food stamps, food vouchers, etc. There is a phenomenal industry built up in New York City consisting of city government, federal government, professional counselors, security-providers, medical-providers, administrators, et al. George can’t remember his Social Security Number, which is a big wall in the business of homelessness. But more important is that he doesn’t have his Birth Certificate, without which a person practically doesn’t exist. That’s how George feels, like he doesn’t exist. There is a lot of drudgery to it as George wanders around the city searching for meaning, companionship, and just trying to survive. George has a living daughter. He knows where and how to find her but chooses to leave her pretty much alone. It doesn’t boast much of a story. It might deserve a lesser rating than the three stars I’ve decided to give it, but I was sufficiently impressed with Gere’s performance, and Ben Vereen’s as well. I didn’t recognize him at all. But I recognized his name in the credits which drove met back for a closer look at his performance as Dixon, the closest thing George finds to a friend in the homeless shelter. I was interested in the vocabulary Dixon uses. He refers to himself as “reduced” not “homeless.”
I was interested in the movie since I read about Gere genuinely being taken for a homeless man in Manhattan while filming it. I’m glad I watched it, but … Time Out of Mind made me think, but it offers no solution. It offers a picture of drudgery.