Unwelcome guest

Perhaps the title should be Squirming. A lot of it is just that awkward, but in a good way, in that it is intended by the filmmaker: Using one central character (Ryan Wuestewald) , a brain-damaged man who attends a birthday luau for well-off kama'āina or native haoles, returning for the first time to the family Oahu homestead. He is the brother of Meg (Nikki DeParis) whose birthday is being celebrated Hawaiian style, roast pig and all.

The awkwardness? Though it's revealed it's five years since the accident and Ryan can walk now, even comes here driving his own car, Ryan's control of functions and emotion, and memories of a lot of people he used to know are incomplete. He is guided away from diving into the ocean, with the rough surf of Oahu. This is a mood piece and a gradual unfolding. I'm not sure it has a whole lot to say but sometimes just depicting a situation is enough. And there is a reveal - towards which we move with Ryan, whose understanding like ours is shaky.

The birthday luau is an authentic location staging bolstered by the front-and-center presence of non-actor locals (cast by the director from people she knew growing up), fit and cheery surfing, volley balling, beer chugging types who contrast with the glum and confused Ryan, whom they for the most part simply avoid. Only sister Meg tries to protect him and act as a liaison, while Ryan's brother John (Hans Christopher) partly avoids him, partly is openly antagonistic. (We will learn why.) At one point poor Ryan grabs and talks in a private corner to a salamander, thinking maybe only it will be his friend.

A third reassuring and informative presence at dinner is Uncle Pat (Hawaii Five-O vet Michael E. Carter) who tells Ryan he is doing very well. He reminds him that Meg and John "are healing too," though. And that missing someone died peacefully. We're with Ryan. We naturally don't know any more than he does about the film's backstory.

The film was executive produced by Werner Herzog, which partly explains the free blending of improvised, local non-actor elements with dialogue spoken by actors. That the luau simply goes about being a luau explains how intensely we feel the strangely alien element Ryan must negotiate, and actor Wuestewald, besides being fitted with a thin scar going across his whole head, doesn't look like anybody else. Though this debut film understandably was awarded at a local fest as best made-in-Hawaii film of the year, we have to note that non-white locals do not appear. But director Alliata has gotten across an intense atmosphere and slow-reveal storyline and Ryan Wuestewald is memorable. The very authentic settings are set off by the skillfully creepy constantly changing score (note the use of old Italian songs) and a changeable, percussive sound design.

Yana Alliata is a first-generation Italian-American filmmaker raised across Hawaii, Italy, and Australia. She attended La Pietra, a Honolulu preparatory school for girls, studied film at Loyola Marymount and worked at Fox Searchlight Pictures. In her apprenticeship she worked directly with Werner Herzog, Alexander Payne, and Phillip Noyce and has been an Associate Producer of Branded Content at FX Network. This is her feature directorial debut.

Reeling, 76 mins., premiered at SXSW, Austin Mar. 7, 2025, and showed also at San Diego and San Francisco IndieFest. Limited release began Mar. 18, 2025 at Los Feliz American Cinematheque in Los Angeles. It is currently still unreeling at some select locations. Coming to digital, Apple TV, Amazon, Fandango Jul. 7, 2026.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.