Time Out Of Mind

As a film-maker with a conscience, Oren Moverman already has marked out his socially aware territory with The Messenger, about Middle American families coming to terms with the deaths of loved ones in the Iraq war, while Rampart hit the mean streets of Los Angeles and a tale of a corrupt cop.

Here he immerses himself in the plight of the homeless through the travails of Richard Gere (who also produced) as George, a homeless man down and out in New York.

When he is ejected from a grim apartment block by the building manager (Steve Buscemi) George has no resources whatsoever and spends his time riding the subway, sitting on park benches and aimlessly wandering the streets. Eventually he ends up at Bellevue, a teeming shelter for the homeless in Manhattan, where Moverman goes almost into documentary mode as he follows the procedures just to get a bed for the night.

One of his ports of call is a laundromat and it emerges that the young woman working there is his estranged daughter (played by Jenna Malone). Perhaps she could be his salvation ...

We don’t quite know why George has reached these depths of despair. The only clue is the line: “I’m just a fuck-up, probably always was,” although he does open up more in exchanges with a fellow vagrant played by Ben Vereen.

Gere, despite his image both off and on screen, gives a flawless performance - apparently fooling many of the real passers-by as Moverman and crew filmed from a distance. It is well-judged and completely lacking in any actorly tics. There is something poignant about how the ageing process has enabled the actor to embrace such roles.