Somewhere in the desert east of Los Angeles, sitting on the edge of a great lake, lies the small town of Bombay Beach. Once a flourishing tourist destination, it has become a desolate and ramshackle place where a group of inhabitants are caught in a void of rural life. Supported by the perfectly apt music of Bob Dylan and Beirut, this quirky little documentary follows the everyday life of some of these people, in what could only be described as a bizarre existence that they lead: a family whose parents have served jail-time, their children taken away from them twice in the past; a former LA gang-land member who is courting his best friend’s sister and aiming for a scholarship to go to college; and a group of elderly people airing their naïve ways and wisdom.

Indeed, this is where the film successfully finds its heart – in the humanity that emerges in a culture so distant from our own, stuck in a limbo between the simple, yet paranoid era of 1950s America and today’s modern times. Director Alma Har’el makes the ordinary become extraordinary, the film is captivating throughout. The filmmaking is unobtrusive, becoming invisible as it silently watches the everyday nothing that fills the lives of the subjects, catching some truly astonishing moments.

To some this will be a comedy, to others a drama, perhaps an exposé or even a horror film – but nonetheless, this is a film that truly shows that truth is stranger than fiction.