Product Details

• Directors: Michael Dominic
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Surround Sound, Widescreen, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• VHS Release Date: June 18, 2002
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0972280502
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,828 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amy Taubin, Village Voice, November 20, 2001

"Dominic's affecting, honorable portraits of some longtime residents are hard to shake"

Product Description

At the Sunshine Hotel, nothing has changed in seventy or eighty years. It is a true "flophouse". The men still sleep in a warren of 4' x 6' cubicles called pigeon coops, which stand only 7' high beneath 12' ceilings, covered over with chicken wire. The narrow gray hallways are lined with flimsy wooden doors. Behind every door you'll find a man, and a story.

Nathan Smith is the manager and a resident of the Sunshine Hotel. He has lived on the Bowery for some twenty years. Nate spends his days at the Sunshine in the "cage", as the front desk is called, or in his room, chain smoking, writing, trading stories, and dreaming of getting off the Bowery. An engaging and articulate man, he is the central character of Sunshine Hotel.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Documentary, November 15, 2004

By 

J.M. Taliaferro "daddybrooklyn" (Mississippi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunshine Hotel [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I actually saw this movie on TV on a movie channel one day channel surfing. I was really surprised at the movies depth and poignance. This is a very engaging film and the people the movie centers around are fascinating. To live in a flophouse, the men talk with a certain elegance and grace that proves no matter where you look, you can always find a gem. I am pleased that I happened to stumble upon this movie and would recommend it to anyone I know.

5.0 out of 5 stars Making Vinny (the birdman) immortal!, April 2, 2004

By 

VLADIMIR J. GOYKOW, AAS "Class of 2005" (Greenpoint and Oak) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunshine Hotel [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I am very happy to actually have been given the opportunity to view this video. I first seen this documentary at the New York Underground Film Festival back in March 2002 or there-abouts. My close friend Joey's father Vinny: had lived there,prior to his passing away in April 2000. I loved Vinny liked a second father, he was a great guy. Before his tracheotomy in about 1995/96- We would have conversations upon conversations about all sort of things..I really cherished his friendship. And I had no idea I would ever get to see him ever again except in my happy memories,
But thanks to Michael (whom I met at the initial presentation),
I now have something besides memories to hold onto, I now have a film that I can look at and remember...I can now go ahead and purchase 2 copies of this video, ones for me and one I will give to my friend Joey..who now has children of his own and never met their grandfather Vinny.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest documentaries ever made, February 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Sunshine Hotel [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It is a rare occurrence to come across a film of such empathy and compassion. This beautifully crafted gem, reaches deep within one's heart, bringing us to places that we would never reach if the director would have not shot this documentary with vibrant beauty and unrelenting courage. The men that are the subject of the film use their words like paint brushes. I am glad to have had the opportunity to meet them all.

I gave this film as gifts all year to friends and family. Everyone loved it.