Honolulu

Running time: 85 mins

A weekend in the country isn't usually a nerve-wracking experience. Not so in Honolulu. It just so happens that in these restless lives, pandemonium is just a heartbeat away. Seven up-and-coming German directors, including Academy Award winner Florian Gallenberger (Quiero Ser, also in this year's shorts programs), present a light and breezy provincial patchwork. Rarely has the conflict between youth angst and comic abandon, the drab reality and willful dreaming been so briskly, so exuberantly balanced. A strong-willed girl comes across a gentle, and shy security guard and takes advantage of his naivety. A wealthy young woman driving through the countryside meets a young Turk who has only hope. Another young woman driving a bus has dreams of escaping her life. They, and the other odd characters in this new film from Germany's groundbreaking studio, Bavaria Film International, may not know what they want from life, but they do know what they want to leave behind. The doubts and uncertainties of young people living in Western industrial civilization underlie all of these interrelated stories, showing concretely the realities that life forces on people. The stories are heartbreaking, humorous, and always unexpected. Honolulu symbolizes the goals they seek: freedom, escape, and self-discovery. Reviewed by Ed Soohoo