Waking Mele

At first, Waking Mele kinda confused me, which left me unsettled -- one of my favorite results in the realm of the arts. Images and questions followed me for months. In subsequent viewings it slowly - maybe I'm just slow - unfurled to reveal itself rich with story, and approaches to story and to visual aesthetic.

I've caught it playing amidst other film student works at festivals across the country and in Europe, and it is DEFINITELY NOT A STUDENT FILM by all appearance and constitution. Mele is a deeply carved creation of heart, sweat, and ingenuity.

All that is woven into this pithy multidimensional work may not be gleaned in its twenty-five minutes nor in a single sitting, but it'll get into your head and make you take it home as homework. True works of art are always completed by the viewer as participant.

Cliff Notes overview...there is none. It's a day in the life of Life.

Comparisons: I can't think of one presently. It's more like a dream I had once.

Notes: 1)Kinda road-trippy. 2)Something that, over time, I could get mixed-up as one of my own experiences back when on some beautiful weekend at a rave with a beautiful girl somewhere. 3)Luxuriously intimate brother and sister story and performance (Daniel and Sara Rivas were real yet mythical), better than Luke and Leah. 4)Luscious cinematography, post work, and vision. Artist with a helluva-eye.

This short film abandons a traditional linear storyline in favor of a more evocative stream of consciousness style. I generally don't enjoy this type of film. It's not entirely clear what happens here but two of the characters appear to be brother and sister and the brother character has been taken out of the hospital. He collapses after attending a rave. An urn containing a father's ashes plays a role as well. Not all films must be narrative. This one evokes a mood and seems more a sketch than a finished picture but it's worth the time to see it. BTW Mele is Hawaiian for song.