Hard Times: Lost on Long Island

About Hard Times: Lost on Long Island

"Hard Times: Lost on Long Island" is a heart-rending documentary released in 2012. It looks at the impact of the late 2000s recession on the American middle class. The film takes a personal and intimate look at a handful of individuals and families in Long Island who were hit particularly hard by the economic downturn. This well-crafted documentary paints a stark portrait of their struggle to maintain their middle-class status, dignity, and financial stability while grappling with job loss and an increasingly uncertain economic future.

Making / Production

With Marc Levin as the director and Daphne Pinkerson as the producer, the film was produced by Blowback Productions for HBO Documentary Films. As part of HBO’s summer series, Hard Times first premiered on HBO in July 2012. The filmmakers spent about a year and a half recording the journey of the featured families.

Actors

• Alan Fromm: Acted as himself. Fromm is a senior level executive who lost his job and struggled to find a new one.
• David Hartstein: Acted as himself. Hartstein, an independent financial consultant and father, mirrored the pain of joblessness and the stress to provide for a family.

Trivia / Interesting Facts

• The film is over an hour long and doesn't feature a traditional narrative style but uses personal stories to narrate the brutal economic realities.
• The title of the film comes from the fact that most of the film's subjects live in an upper-middle-class enclave of Long Island, New York.

Awards

The movie didn't win any mainstream movie awards but it did garner critical acclaim for its raw portrayal of the economic hardships faced by the American middle class.

Quotes

• "This isn't the America I grew up in, and it's a very frightening place"
• "We're not looking for anything that's not real, we're just looking for work"

Music, Soundtrack

• While this documentary doesn't have a traditional soundtrack or score, the sound editing and production done by Richard Fairbanks and Paul Levin added to the overall emotional atmosphere of the film.