Looking at homelessness on the streets of Los Angeles, the grim and haphazardly organized documentary Forgotten is an impressionistic mess that allows homeless individuals to speak for themselves. Filmmaker Nadia Beddini trains the camera on individuals living on the streets of Hollywood, Venice Beach, and Skid Row, letting each tell often convoluted stories about hard times, police oppression, dreams of normalcy, drug use, and a lack of city services. But Beddini offers no context or thesis for any of this, and if the film's purpose was merely to start a conversation about homelessness everywhere without offering any particular point-of-view, society has moved well past that need and is desperate for solutions beyond criminalizing indigence. The obvious mental health issue for many of the people in Forgotten is a large part of their tragedy, but aside from the remarks of a sympathetic cop who explains the reasons that some homeless individuals resist services, there is nothing particularly constructive or instructive about Forgotten. Optional. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
Forgotten
(2017) 53 min. DVD: $24.99 ($199 w/PPR). Dreamscape Media. Closed captioned. Volume 33, Issue 1
Forgotten
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