The Gods of Times Squared1999

Here are more of the mesmerizing encounters with prophets and pilgrims that made Richard Sandler’s THE GODS OF TIME SQUARE such a memorable document of Times Square spiritualism. Sandler lets his camera run to attempt to grasp his subjects’ complex thought processes, though the specter of gentrification haunts all these portraits (while preaching couldn’t clean up the street, capitalism certainly did the trick). Fiery ministers raise hell from improvised pulpits. An unassuming sage lets himself be engaged in a kind of street Socratic dialogue. Another man quietly discusses his ideas for a film script which turn on his literal identification with Jesus Christ. A New Yorker through and through, Sandler isn’t afraid to argue but his undivided attention is itself a token of the public square’s precious freedoms.