Lynne Sachs’s melancholy experiment reaches closer to the truth than a standard documentary might. Mixing dreamily poetic imagery, improvised scenes, and fly-on-the-wall footage, she delves into the hidden world of New York’s “bed-shift” apartments—the unimaginably cramped Chinatown spaces where occupants swap beds every 12 hours or so (hence the title). The film lacks a single focus in terms of character, but Sachs manages to give voice to the voiceless and speak volumes about the so-called American Dream, the sacrifices people make to achieve it, and the unconventional communities they build to support themselves.

Cinematheque, October 3 (6:30 p.m.) and 5 (2:30 p.m.)