Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

Daylight only occasionally seeps into the Roaring 20s, a dive bar on the outskirts of Las Vegas. For many regulars this bar serves as their second living room, but for Michael, a washed-up actor who sweeps the bar after closing hours, it's his sole refuge. From tomorrow on, this will all be gone. Roaring 20s closes its doors for good, and brothers Bill and Turner Ross record the final 24 hours of its existence.

The guests that trickle in form a cross-section of society: old, young, white, black, woman, man—and anything in between. The evening progresses, and as the alcohol flows and the final “last call” approaches, personal drama comes to the surface. Stories of loneliness, loss and disenchantment, drunken reproaches and declarations of love bring to the fore the comforting warmth that holds this accidental family of barflies and tapsters together.

In this tribute to the American dive bar, included in Rolling Stone’s Sundance Top 10, the filmmakers employ the stylistic characteristics of cinéma vérité to depict a phenomenon that transcends time, place, and reality.