It is not exactly everyday we see a film from the Cook Islands, so catching “Stranded Pearl” in Okinawa was an experience by itself. In contrast to expectations though, the movie was not exactly a novelty. Let us take a closer look, however.
Stranded Pearl is screening at Cinema at Sea
Julia, the daughter of a mogul, arrives with her husband, John, in the Cook Islands in order to explore the company’s project in the area. There seems to be some trouble between the couple, while John seems to like the company of a local employee, Anita, a bit too much. At one point, Julia takes a trip on a boat in the area, but stumbles onto a storm, which ends up with her and Sid, a quiet man, stranded on a remote island. Unbeknown to Julia, Sid is on the run from New Zealand police. Initially appalled by him, she soon finds herself being taken care of in a way that warms her up to this mysterious man. Back in “civilization”, a number of things start taking place.
Unfulfilled expectations notwithstanding, “Stranded Pearl” suffers significantly from the plethora of cliches found in abundance throughout the movie, as much as from some writing issues. The rich white girl coming closer with a mysterious, cocky, but quite handsome exotic man, has been evidently done to death in Hollywood, particularly in the past, but this is not the only problem. The way the various obstacles are removed in order for this relationship to take place and progress are also naively presented, while the ending makes very little sense, especially during some rushing close to the finale.
The above, however, do not mean that “Stranded Pearl” is without merits. For starters, the tropical setting allowed DP Karl Schodt to come up with a number of impressive settings, particularly in the remote location, with the night shots also being equally memorable. The combination of coloring with natural light adds to this trait even more, with the movie definitely being beautiful to watch, and the way the protagonists look definitely being one of the reasons. Ken Khan‘s own editing is also good in terms of the pace of the movie, with the changing between sets working well. As mentioned before, though, the ending could have done with a bit of additional time.
Furthermore, the chemistry of Anand Raj Naidu as Sid and Kristy Wright as Julia works rather well, particularly in the way he stays the same but she changes significantly, while being more vocal about it. Robert Reitano as John, on the other hand, is less convincing.
The comment of how companies that invest in property and construction are destroying the environment is a nice touch, although it could also have a bit more time in the movie in order to be more impactful.
There is nothing majorly wrong with “Stranded Pearl” and in general, it is easy to say that it is a film pleasant to the eye. The problem is, though, that it looks too much like an American b-movie and considering that it comes from a place we never see movies from, the result looks like a missed opportunity.
