Hawaiian Punch
All Films • 04-Mar-2014
Nandan Rao's second film begins with a 3 minute phone call over a black screen. We gradually hear something about church and then we cut to a quote from an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: "brethren, encourage our young men to marry." Off the quote, we're at a peaceful Hawaiian beachside where 2 young Mormon men, Nick (Nicholas Boissonneault) & Tor (Tor Kristian Anestad) swing on a rope. Despite the head quote, it's not a quest for marriage but more a struggle of faith. We're never inside a church, never see missionary training, never door-to-door proselytizing. Instead, Rao focuses on downtime, cliff diving, riding mopeds, eating at McDonalds. Rao is patient, and the images he constructs are rich enough to hold on. The muted, hazy photography, and off-center framing are hallmarks carried over from his d.p. work, including Sophia Takal's "Green." Often all we have is the image, or the sound, or a black screen, or we're locked on people who aren't speaking. Minimalism wanders into avant-garde then into mumblecore and back again, in rotating rhythms. Another assured doc/narrative hybrid building off last years "The Men of Dodge City."
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