REELING

After a life altering accident, Ryan struggles to fit in with old friends and family at a birthday luau on his family’s homestead. As the pig slowly roasts in an imu pit and the partygoers cut loose, the celebration boils over when Ryan uncovers the missing memory of when his life took a tragic turn. Executive produced by Werner Herzog, Hawai‘i born director Yana Alliata’s first feature’s idyllic North Shore bungalow setting soon feels claustrophic, as she expertly cranks the tension to a series of microagressions, building a simmering pressure cooker that’s about to burst.