UNION SQUARE
[] (three stars)
Shooting up. Running time: 120 minutes. Not rated (drug use). At the Cinema Village, 12th Street, east of Fifth Avenue.
MANHATTAN’S Union Square area has changed a lot since the 1960s and ’70s, when it teemed with danger and drugs.
The landmark park – its colorful history dates back to the 19th century – received a complete makeover, and upscale stores, restaurants and high-rise apartment buildings took over.
A farmer’s market draws people from all over the city.
Despite the area’s new image, a bit of the old remains: homeless druggies.
Stephen J. Szklarski’s in-your-face documentary “Union Square” zeroes in on seven down-and-out twentysomethings – one a woman – who allowed the filmmaker to follow them around as they begged, stole and prostituted themselves to maintain their expensive heroin habits.
Multi-pierced Stealth says he left home at 9, traveled a while and now is a “homeless junkie.”
Ron, the most articulate of the bunch, tells how he sells his body to a dirty old man, and Mark confesses, “My family [has] unconditional love for me and I’m f – – – ing them over [with] my f – – – ed up ways.”
The only woman, a dyed-redhead from New Jersey named Cheyenne, says she started using heroin on weekends only.
Now the drug controls her life, and her young daughter has been taken away from her.
“Union Square” becomes most disturbing when the druggies vividly show the mechanics of shooting up in public restrooms, a process they have down to a science.
To most New Yorkers, the street addicts they encounter daily are nameless and faceless, and “Union Square” helps to humanize them.
At the same time, it’s depressing as hell. While most of the seven say they want to beat the habit and become productive citizens, only one, Ron, follows through successfully.
Today, he works in public relations and is heroin-free.