Movie #2092 ........................."Lead Me Home" (movie theater - oscar-nominated doc shorts 2022)

Movie #2092 "Lead Me Home" (movie theater - oscar-nominated doc shorts 2022)  this is a film about the homeless --- a vast subject as it is, and this one is ambitious in that it tries to show side by side by side what San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles are doing for their homeless population ---- I really liked and appreciated that the film used so much juxtaposition --- for example, it shows a guy living in his car and getting his dinner together and juxtaposes it with a guy in a luxurious apartment doing the same --- the film does this constantly without any narration --- those images don't really need juxtaposition, but I think it was a mistake that there is no narration in the rest --- it particularly bothered me how it rapidly moves from one city to the next --- I was constantly wondering where we were and not sure if that was important --- because I remember Los Angeles having a very interesting project that could work in other cities, I think.  One city suggested that an organization like FEMA should be established for the homeless, and another city had a mayor who was trying to clean up the homeless areas of the city by  building places for them in the city, but the people living in the city by these new constructions were against having homeless living near them.  So the film brought up a lot of problems , just like all homeless films do -- and we could use much more discussion on solutions, for sure, but this one didn't pull us in to the problem that much  and didn't give a lot of solutions ---some of the visuals were mighty pretty, though --- 3 out of 5

"LEAD ME HOME"    PG-13     39 minutes     2021

Lead me home is a short film that follows several people living on the streets in West Coast cities.  Conceived to be a cinematic study of contrasts, the film will be familiar and shocking, intimate and vast.  By weaving individual stories with aerial vistas, time-lapse photography and evocative details of contemporary urban life, Lead Me Home aims to spark a national conversation about the epic scale of this alarming and ever-growing problem.  I'd give it 3.5 out of 5.

Director:  Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk