By Robert Scucci
| Published 26 seconds ago

Homelessness isn’t an easy topic to talk about because there are so many factors at play. Some people are orphaned and would rather live on the streets than get shoved through the foster system. Some people aren’t of the right mind and need to address mental health issues they can’t afford to treat before they can become stable, contributing members of society. Or, if you’re like Bug (Andrew Yackel) in 2019’s Gutterbug, you’ve simply made a series of misguided life choices, got kicked out by your parents at 18, and decided to just go with it.

Gutterbug is not an easy watch, largely because of how accurately it depicts life on the street through the eyes of a young crust punk. Seemingly living just for kicks and always chasing his next fix, Bug sleeps on the ground, causes scenes at music clubs, begs for money, abuses whatever substance he can get his hands on, and dumpster dives for food. Gutterbug really sinks its hooks in by making Bug a complex character who, at his most vulnerable, earns your sympathy, but at his most drug addled and chaotic makes you wish he would stop getting in his own way.

This dichotomy is fully explored throughout the film and may very well change your perspective on homelessness if you’re the type to think they’re all just a bunch of bums who should know better.

Aimlessness, Addiction, And Anarchy 

Set in Allston, Massachusetts, Gutterbug establishes its tone by walking you through a day in Bug’s life. Approaching his 21st birthday, the timeline suggests he was kicked out of his parents’ house when he was 18 for drinking, drug use, and getting into misdemeanor-level trouble. Comfortable with the current state of things, Bug spends most of his time getting high on park benches, begging for booze money, and occasionally scoring a cheap dose of the good stuff from his affluent, drug dealing acquaintance Raleigh (Geoff van Wyck).

Along for the ride is Bug’s ride-or-die, Slim (Justin Pietropaolo), as well as his romantic interest, Jenny (Hannah Mosqueda). Together, they experience stratospheric highs when the supply is right, and soul-crushing lows when it runs dry and reality sets in. When the day is over, they will likely be sleeping under a bridge or squatting in an abandoned building. They are not necessarily happy about their living situation, but it is the best they can manage. With the help of friends in the right places, including bodega clerk Eddy (Billy Jenkins), they get by.

A Fearless Look At Homelessness

While it’s easy to roll your windows up when you’re stopped at a traffic light because you don’t want a stranger putting their face in your window, Gutterbug humanizes the homeless in a way few films even attempt that will stick with you. It would have been easy to populate the story with one dimensional background characters who exist only as loud, dangerous derelicts, but that is not what happens here.

Bug’s behavior is problematic to say the least, but the film consistently shows him trying and failing because he has no real support system. He attempts to find work and comes up empty. His parents, who regret kicking him out in the film’s B story, might as well be strangers who happen to live in the same town.

At one point, Bug is such a mess that it takes the “WE I.D.” placard at the bodega to remind him that it is his birthday. Every day bleeds into the next in his current state. While Bug’s predicament can sound self-inflicted, and in many ways it is, Gutterbug quietly points to a much larger systemic issue without ever having to spell it out.

Even if Bug wanted to straighten up, make amends with his family, find steady employment, and get mental health assistance, the path simply is not there. He has no insurance, no financial safety net, and no meaningful family support. His friends, who are living on the streets for their own reasons that the film never fully unpacks, are in similar positions. They are not homeless because they want to be, but since they are, they do what they can to survive.

Not Meant To Be An Easy Watch

What stuck with me most after watching Gutterbug is the overwhelming sense of hopelessness that comes from its realism. Bug and Slim are not likeable guys when they are deep into yet another bender. They can be cold, cruel, and self destructive. The film forces the audience to confront the uncomfortable truth that while their circumstances are tragic, their behavior often works against them, especially once the story moves into the third act.

Writer director Andrew Gibson wants you to sit with that discomfort, and he succeeds. Gutterbug offers no easy answers and no neat solutions to homelessness because that is not the point. The point is recognizing that once someone is pushed far enough to the margins, the barrier to reentry becomes so high that adaptation feels more realistic than escape. 

As of this writing, Gutterbug is streaming for free on Tubi.