A trailer has been released for a mesmerizing new film set in Hawaii titled Waikiki. The film comes from Hawaiian filmmaker Christopher Kahunahana, who is making his directorial debut. It’s described as “a Lynchian look at the dark side of paradise.” The trailer also notes that this film “marks the emergence of a New Hawaiian Cinema.”
The film definitely shows a darker side of Hawaii that most people don’t see. When you think of Hawaii you think of a vacation with no worries. This film is the complete opposite of that.
Waikiki offers “an unflinching glimpse into the gritty realities of life in paradise.” The story follows Kea (Danielle Zalopany), a part-time Hawaiian teacher, hula dancer, and nightclub hostess, who is escaping her abusive ex. She ends up crashing “her beat-up van into a mysterious homeless man in the dead of night. Taking him into her temporary home on wheels, she quickly finds herself in over head—and face to face with her own past traumas. A gorgeously surrealistic and visceral allegory for the contemporary issues which continue to plague Hawaii’s people, Kahunahana’s Waikiki offers a glimmer of hope through human connection and re-connection to ‘aina (nature).”
The film has a strange and surreal tone. The trailer definitely captured my interest. The movie also stars Peter Shinkoda, Jason Quinn, Kimo Kahoano, Nick Masciangelo, and Kainoa Mcgee.
The movie originally premiered at the Urbanworld Film Festival and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival this year, and also plays at the Hawaii Film Festival. There’s no word on when it will be released.
Via: FirstShowing