New Films Give L.A.’s Homeless Crisis a Shocking Closeup

Hollywood is ground zero in the battle for filmmaking’s future.

Not only has the town been essential to the industry for decades, it’s also now front and center in the fight to save Tinsel Town from itself.

“It’s criminal what California and LA have let happen. It’s criminal. Everybody should be fired.”

Parks and Rec stars @RobLowe and @mradamscott discuss the hollowing out of Hollywood, as rising costs push studios to abandon LA for less expensive options. https://t.co/xpUmTbZqcA

— Recall Karen Bass (@RecallBassNow) March 23, 2025

That means filmmakers must keep making movies in Hollywood proper or across the City of Angels. Some love the town’s past and want to ensure its rich future. Others hope enough tax incentives come their way to make such shoots possible.

But they have company.

Homeless people. Thousands of them. Sick. Mentally ill. Addicted. Hurting.

Tent city after tent city. It’s the New Normal, and it’s an unavoidable sight within the city’s borders. Two new films capture that societal decay in profound ways.

How could they not? To do anything but would be denying the truth.

“Animals,” directed by and starring Ben Affleck, casts the actor as a wannabe Mayor caught in a kidnapping crisis. His son has been abducted, and he has hours to come up with the cash to save him.

In between, there’s plenty of talk about L.A.’s woes, including rising crime rates. Affleck’s character doesn’t directly address homelessness in the script.

He doesn’t have to – it’s all in the visuals. Tent city after tent city.

You can’t miss it. Nor should viewers.

Chris Rock is all too aware of how homelessness has exploded in L.A., too. His new film “Misty Green” follows a fading actress scrambling to rebuild her career against all odds. Rock’s camera also captures the endless tent cities that flood L.A. today.

It’s an unflinching portrait of government malfeasance, even if Rock and Affleck never connect the political dots. That’s up to the viewers.

Rock goes one step further than Affleck. The final moments in “Misty Green” not only showcase the tent cities but turn them into absurdist humor.

This is a problem, Rock and co. tell us.

We know. Except the locals keep electing members of the party who helped make it all possible. Maybe it’s time for a documentary or narrative feature that zooms in on that cold truth?

That may be too much to ask from liberal Hollywood. For now, films like “Animals” and “Misty Green” must suffice.