HOBO

“Hobo” mixes hilarious humor, brutal violence, and highly conflicted characters to paint a provocative tale of a reporter looking for a story, who exploits frustrated law enforcement at the expense of an unhoused man simply trying to get by. Frank, 40, is panhandling in Venice Beach, California's "Carnival Walk." He is an alcoholic who sleeps in an alley, yet carries himself with a wise-cracking charm as he waxes philosophical about the American Dream. But after getting beaten up and robbed, Frank takes a bus to the affluent city of Royal Oaks where he hopes he will be safe. But this brings two police officers following department policy who dump Frank in downtown L.A.'s horrific Skid Row, where the filthy sidewalks are lined with tent encampments. Here Frank meets an ambitious TV reporter who convinces him to be a hero, wear a body camera, return to Royal Oaks, and provoke these cops to harass him, but this time get it on tape. The plan goes horribly wrong, as the filmmakers examine the lawless Wild West of L.A.'s homeless epidemic, and present characters on many sides of this complex issue, where nobody is necessarily a villain, and all of us need to participate in finding a solution.