It’s probably a fair bet that in spite of the heavy cast, most people have never heard of Marc Rocco’s Where the Day Takes You, a small film that seemed to have gotten lost as it went through various distributors.

Released theatrically by New Line, the film eventually landed in the lap of Sony, where it appeared on laserdisc and DVD, and now it’s moved to Anchor Bay in a solid transfer, plus a theatrical trailer. It’s a pity no one’s tried to assemble a special edition release, but it’s unlikely now that one will ever materialize, since Rocco died in May of 2009.

Best known for the drama Murder in the First (1995), Rocco’s film is a deeply earnest attempt to dramatize the plight of runaways living in the grubby streets of Los Angeles. The basic story is centered around King (Dermot Mulroney), a father figure to a bunch of youths living under a bridge, and his efforts to make sure everyone stays sane in spite of drug addictions, area crooks, and staying clear of the police who will attempt to reunite the kids with their troubled families.

(Mulroney looks nowhere near his character’s alleged 21 years, but the character could also be seen as a guy who’s been on the streets for so long, he simply gave up counting the years because it seemed pointless.)

Rocco’s film never demonizes a singular character, nor portrays the kids’ worst aggressors as monsters; the characters in the film are part of a messed up realm that exists in plain view, but few people give much attention as they drive through or past, using the highways around which the youths survive.

Their world is dramatized through two story threads: videos of King’s chat sessions with a counselor prior to his release from prison; and his protective relationship with a new runaway from Boston, Heather (Lara Flynn Boyle). Between the two are a close group of friends, such as cocky Little J (Balthazar Getty), ex-suburban kid/drug addict Greg (Sean Astin), and easygoing Crasher (James LeGros) and leg amputee Manny (a pre-Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Will Smith in his first film role). There’s also Brenda (Ricki Lake), hooker Kimmy (Alyssa Milano) and boyfriend Rob (David Arquette).

The kids’ main dangers include local goon Tommy Ray (Peter Dobson), drug dealer Ted (Kyle MacLachlan), and a ‘benevolent’ pedophile Charles (Stephen Tobolowsky). Slowly woven into the shifting power struggle between King and Tommy Ray are local officers Black (Adam Baldwin) and Landers (Rachel Ticotin), as well as a youth counselor (played by an unbilled Christian Slater).

Given the huge cast, it’s pretty stunning how well the characters are defined, and how screenwriters Rocco, Michael Hitchcock and Kurt Voss (Delusion) manage to take their diverse story threads and have them converge on one pivotal event: King’s attempt to liberate himself and his surviving family/fellow youths from their mounting stressors, and head off in search of a fresh start (albeit on the city streets).

One could summarize Where the Day as a star-studded ABC After School Special with R-rated material (and the film does hover into the black and white morality plain towards the end), but Rocco’s only flaw was in approaching the project with a very heavy hand, transforming King as a noble martyr for a lost generation, but that’s forgivable due to the strong performances wrought out of the cast, and the sublime technical skill in the film’s neon-grungy cinematography, and superb editing by Russell Livingstone.

(Why Livingstone never rose to A-list pictures after the film is a mystery. Besides cutting Murder in the First, the editor fell back into banal TV and direct to video fodder. It’s tragic because there are many scenes and sequences in Where the Day that are textbook examples on how to create visual kineticism.)

Melissa Etheridge’s songs are overused at times – Rocco repeats whole sections in secondary montages to emphasize Love, Tragedy and Desperation – but they’re standout works that match the character’s grim, hopeless world. There’s very little score in the film, and the sound mix is a very aggressive, bass-friendly Dolby 2.0 Surround.

Where the Day Takes You is a blatant message picture, but it’s also a solid drama that’s equally fascinating for its cast of newcomers who moved on to grander careers. (It’s also amusing to note how Boyle and MacLachlan had both appeared in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks series, and Getty would co-star with Arquette’s sister Patricia in Lost Highway in 1997.)

© 2010 Mark R. Hasan