Rooftops

The characters in ROOFTOPS, who live atop abandoned tenement buildings on New York's Lower East Side, may have found the solution to Manhattan's housing crunch. "Great view, low rent, plenty of light--just what everybody in the city wants," explains one rooftop denizen. But the film itself exemplifies another modern-day problem: long music videos passing themselves off as movies. Gedrick is a loner who has set up house in a rooftop water tower; Cruz is the young graffiti artist who moves in with him after being kicked out of the house by his mother's boy friend. Their makeshift home is threatened by Velez, a crack dealer who has moved his operation into their build...