Bombay Beach [HD]

Living On The Fringe: A Society On The Tail End Of The American Dream
The unusual and visually arresting documentary "Bombay Beach" offers a unique slice-of-life approach to its subjects that makes for an intimacy and immediacy that is quite unexpected. As the Salton Sea area of California evolved from an upscale tourist resort in the fifties to near desolation sixty years later, I anticipated that this was to be a document of that downward transitioning. It's not, however. So anyone expecting a traditional documentary feature about the area and its history is sure to be disappointed. But that's not to say that the film is a complete write-off, far from it. It just may not meet your initial expectations, but offers something even more rewarding. It showcases a world of isolationism, poverty, and decay that is haunting, disturbing, and undeniably memorable. The citizens that still inhabit the area are an eclectic group. Many might be considered societal misfits, some are just struggling to rebuild their lives, and some are striving for success and...

Poetic, gorgeous documentary about eccentrics living at the Salton Sea..
This won best doc at TRIBECA FILM FEST. It's a stunning, warm and heartbreaking documentary that follows a group of unique people - each with their own dreams - living at The Salton Sea. Wonderfully inventive, beautifully shot and a portrait of people you won't soon forget. Really worth a watch.

DVD out-takes better than movie
Bombay Beach is an art-school cinema exercise / reality show about a marginal community of down-and-outers in the remote desert of the Salton Sea in California. These are the last residents of an ecological disaster zone and their lives are very odd. Nevertheless, I was bored by the film. Although the filmaker did seem to care about the people she followed, her film is static; no development, even for a documentary. In spite of being juiced up by a couple of music-video style song and dance numbers (I'm not making this up), it barely kept my attention. So why did it win New York film awards? Because New York art-jerks (they dress in black) enjoy discouraging stuff, the weirder the better, and even more they love the perception of America as a wasteland. It also didn't hurt that the Tribeca film clique just happen to be close friends with the director and her husband; it was their turn to get the award.

So I was glad that I checked out the Extras section of the DVD before...

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