NEW YORK CITY is many things to many people, offering starshot successes and skid-row breakdowns in the same breathless hour.
None can deny that the city is a hive of possibilities, both good and bad.
Beyond the initial shock of entire communities living below New York streets is the even more surprising fact that many of them are natural comedians. One man waxes poetic about his cats . It's a joke, but also speaks the grim truth of living among vermin in semi-darkness. While the film does not shy away from the gloomy reality of these subterranean folks, most of whom are or were drug addicts , the people themselves have wit, intelligence, and spirit. At barely over an hour, one leaves the theater wanting more.