Perhaps the last place in America anyone would ever want to visit, much less live in. So who lives there and why? Desert Coffee does. Apretty good job of profiling the people who live there, particularly Rob, the man who effectively serves as the mayor of Slab City. His only power is the coffee he serves, even though he hates the stuff, as well is some solar power and Internet connectivity.
With Rob's imprimatur, we're taken into this lost world of lost souls. As we get to know them, it becomes evident that these residents may be living at the outer fringe of modern America, but it's there that they find a home and acceptance. They can be themselves and even the most dysfunctional have a degree of dignity and need for community, just like any nominally normal person. (Even the "tweakers" the lowest rung...the meth heads....show grudging respect for their community when pressed by Rob. Rob also prevents a violent confrontation.
As reassuring as all of this may sound, there's no sense that all of this (including Rob) is flirting with disaster.
That's where the film fails. It ends abruptly. We are left with an empty feeling in suspended animation.
Six years have passed since the film was released. And even Rob has hinted at his own passing from the scene. So what has happened to these lost humans?
We may never know because Desert Coffee ends half-full...enticing but ultimately empty.
