The Hypnotic Documentary, BOMBAY BEACH, Premieres On Demand Today → On Demand Weekly

The Hypnotic Documentary, BOMBAY BEACH, Premieres On Demand TodayNovember 02, 2011

Focus World

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: BOMBAY BEACH (Focus World).

BOMBAY BEACH

By Chris Claro

A hypnotic free-form documentary, BOMBAY BEACH, directed by Alma Har’el, offers a window on a dirt-poor desert community adjacent to Southern California’s Salton Sea. A compelling examination of life on the fringes, the film is a moody and stylized account of a society outside society.

Har’el concentrates her gaze primarily on the males of the area, including young Benny, a heavily medicated grade-schooler living in squalor with his unstable family, CeeJay an African-American teen who flees the violence of L.A. to finish high school in pursuit of a college football scholarship, and Ray, an octogenarian estranged from his family and who resells Indian cigarettes out of his trailer.

Through these characters and others, Har’el creates a kind of tone poem about the dissipated nature of Bombay Beach. Less than 200 miles from the bustle of Los Angeles, the community of only about 300 is a world apart from its neighbor to the north. Comprised of what one character refers to as “the misfits of the world,” Bombay Beach and its environs represent the last stop of a bleak journey for many of its inhabitants.

Despite the starkness of the lives and backdrop of BOMBAY BEACH, Har’el maintains a measure of hope through two devices not usually associated with documentary. One is the use of dance, as Har’el and her choreographer, Paula Present, put their real-life subjects through the motions onscreen. As we watch CeeJay and Benny shuffle and step, their stories take on a fantasy quality that lightens the spirit of BOMBAY BEACH and offers the protagonists a respite from their dreary lives. In addition to the novelty of the dancing, the film is scored with memorable songs from Beirut and Bob Dylan. Yes, Bob Dylan. (The presence of Dylan’s music was so unexpected that I thought I was listening to a new artist who had adopted – or stolen – the classic balladeer’s sound, so I was thrilled to read the master’s name in the closing credits.)

The music and dance leaven the inherent sadness of Har’el’s film, but BOMBAY BEACH is a tough go, shining a light, as it does, on the abject gloom that permeates its setting. Though Ray gets badly needed medical treatment, and CeeJay makes great strides away from the cancerous environment of L.A., it’s hard to believe that the residents of Bombay Beach will ever break free of the poverty that imprisons them. But Har’el’s stylized cinematography and sympathetic eye give BOMBAY BEACH a vibe of uplift that implies that better days lie ahead for the denizens of the desert.

Challenging, raw, and rewarding, BOMBAY BEACH isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

- Chris Claro

Chris
Chris Claro is a contributing writer to On Demand Weekly. He is a former Director of Promotion for Sundance Channel and now works as a writer, producer, and media educator. He is a regular contributor to dvdverdict.com and contributor to the Eyes and Ears section of huffingtonpost.com