Sunshine Hotel (2001)

Just decades ago flophouses in New York housed nearly 25000 men living on the margins of society Today few remain Filmmaker Michael Dominic takes his camera behind the doors of the Sunshine Hotel one of the few remaining affordable refuges for the destitute and out of luck a world that has seemingly stood still for more than eight decades Here the hotel residents live in tiny fourbysixfoot cubicles crowned by a ceiling of chicken wire Focusing on several of the Sunshines denizens including a transgender woman saving all her money for additional surgeries and a hotel manager who doubles as its resident philosopher Dominic presents a nonjudgmental snapshot of a diverse group of characters as memorable as the characters at Harry Hopes bar in Eugene ONeills The Iceman Cometh