Review No.17: Bombay Beach

The third documentary within that many days is a portrait of the Californian Bombay Beach as seen through the eyes of its residents and director Alma Har'el. Har'el's background as a music video director comes into play throughout Bombay Beach which exists in a dreamy bubble a part of land on The Salton Sea which is frequented by mainly poor or impoverished residents. The opening old newsreel footage informs us that Bombay Beach was once touted as a holiday resort however it now houses mainly outcasts and trailer trash. The film follows three characters at different stages of their lives first here is Benny whose parents are notorious for storing explosives in their caravans and who has had learning difficulties. Benny's story is transposed with Red a man in his eighties who is still able to make money from buying shedloads of cigarettes at a knockdown price and selling them on. Red has formed a family within his community even though he hasn't seen his real family in fifty years. Finally there is Cee-Jay a teenager who willingly moved to Bombay Beach from L.A. following the shooting and death of his cousin. Cee-Jay is hoping to be the first member of his family to go to college and thinks playing on the high school football team is the way to get there however he is also looking for love with his best friend's sister.

Of the three may stories in Bombay Beach it is definitely Red's that is the most interesting however Ha'Rel doesn't seem to stay on him very much but that might be because he spends a portion of the film in the hospital. Benny is also a complicated character with his family representing the dictionary definition of trailer trash neither of his parents graduated from high school and his mother gave birth when she was fifteen. It looks as if Benny is to follow in their footsteps as he struggles to concentrate at school or fit in in social circles and none of the drugs he is prescribed seem to work. Cee-Jay seems like an odd choice for the third story as he is a fairly regular American teenager looking to graduate and get the girl there is nothing interesting or quirky about his story. My main issue with Bombay Beach is that there were a number of scenes that were obviously staged and would fit in very well in a music video I'm thinking mainly of Benny's family playing at the beach or Cee-Jay's first date with his girlfriend complete with a fully choreographed routine involving masks. Like the Salton Sea which borders it Bombay Beach is a beautiful but also at times fairly slow with two interesting subjects that should've had more screen time devoted to them.

Verdict: An interesting subject matter beautifully filmed but a film that runs out of steam towards the end so 6.5/10