Expanding on his 2019 short also named “Moloka’i Bound”, director Alika Tengan, came up with a feature film based on the same premises and with, largely, the same cast and crew, which won the Best Narrative Feature Made in Hawai’i in Hawai’i International Festival.
Moloka‘i Bound is screening at Cinema at Sea
The story revolves around Kainoa, a young man who has just been released from prison on parole, and tries to rebuild the relationships with his son, Jonathan, and his mother, Jessica who are expectedly reluctant to open up to him again. With help from his parole officer, and having already found a job in a tourist boat, he manages to get back on his feet and make the first steps towards his goal. However, his past life is not so easy to overcome, while the thin line he walks in his parole is quite easy to break, and Kainoa finds himself doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.
The first thing one will notice in “Molokai Bound” is that the whole film, apart from the focus on the protagonist, unfolds as a love letter to Hawai’i and particularly Oahu. The sentiment becomes rather apparent through the tour guide aspect of the movie, which DP Chapin Hall captures through a combination of nostalgia and realism, that works particularly well, allowing the story and images to appeal to both locals and ones who have not visited the place before. Particularly the beaches and the island in the end of the movie offer a series of captivating moment that are bound to stay on the mind of any viewer.
Check the interview with the director
And talking about cinematography, Tengan and Hall chose mostly handheld cameras, in cinema verite style, with the focus being on the protagonist on essentially every scene in the movie, in an approach that looks European but not annoyingly so, probably due to the lack of constant close-ups, the uniqueness of the location, and the lighting which gives the whole movie an oneiric hypostasis. It also helps that Holden Mandrial-Santos as Kainoa gives a wonderfully naturalistic performance, retaining a sense of measure in a film that was very easy to fall into hyperbole, in one of the best traits of the whole production.
Regarding the comments, how difficult it is for people on parole to avoid the reefs of a life that ended with them in prison, is a central one, with Kainoa’s efforts being essentially heroic. Particularly not drinking or associating with former convicts in any way seems quite difficult to do so, especially in small communities, although Tengan also shows that the authorities have a nice face also, with the character of the parole officer highlighting the fact in the best fashion. Furthermore, the preservation of culture in the face of “Americanism” is equally central here, with the movie being filled with language and other cultural and everyday elements of indigenous life, which definitely add to the contextual richness of the film.
Also of note here is the relationship between father and son, which Tengan explores quite thoroughly, away from stereotypes, with the chemistry between Mandrial-Santos and Achilles Holt who plays Jonathan being quite good.
Although the story is not exactly unique, the cultural elements present and the overall realism Tengan has shot “Moloka’i Bound” with, allow the film to truly stand out, in an overall excellent sophomore film.
