Princess Kaiulani

Image courtesy of Roadside Attractions

During a trip to Iolani Palace, the former home of Hawaii’s royal family in Honolulu, movie producer Mark Forby found the subject for his next film hanging on the wall. A portrait of Princess Ka’iulani, the last heir to Hawaii’s throne, inspired Forby to investigate her story at the Hawaiian state archives where he obtained the majority of his research on the princess. In January 2004, Forby sat down to write his screenplay. Four years later, Forby is finally releasing his directorial debut, Princess Ka’iulani, a very romanticized and somewhat misleading tale about the annexation of our 50th state.

The movie starts with a few of the events leading up to the Bayonet Constitution, wherein the Hawaiian monarchy was stripped of its power and the land given to American, European, and native Hawaiian elites. Shortly after being forced to sign the new constitution, Hawaii’s King Kalākaua (Ocean Kaowili) dies, leaving Queen Lili’uokalani (Leo Anderson Akana) what’s left of the royal throne. Shortly after naming Princess Ka’iulani (Q’Orianka Kilcher) her heir, the queen promptly ships the princess off to boarding school in England to be formally educated.

Once Princess Ka’iulani arrives in Britain, the entire second act of the film wallows in her time abroad, especially her romance with Clive Davies (Shaun Evans). Forby spends so much time on this insignificant romance between the princess and Davies that you almost forget Hawaii is in upheaval halfway across the globe. Occasionally, Forby will insert brief flashes of Hawaiian turmoil, but not enough to give the viewer any kind of insightful look into the events of what really happened during the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

Eventually, Forby gets back to the business of Hawaii being unwillingly annexed by the United States, showing how Princess Ka’iulani won over of the American media, as well as her plea to President Cleveland (Peter Banks) for his support in restoring the Hawaiian throne to its monarchy. Unfortunately for the princess, her presidential plea is too little, too late. Even with his support, Cleveland was merely a lame duck waiting for McKinley to take office in a month’s time. Princess Ka’iulani did manage to make it back to her beloved island in time to witness its annexation, but died one year later at the age of 23. According to the film, she supposedly died from a broken heart over the loss of her country.

At best, Princess Ka’iulani might be considered a somewhat informative film for those who aren’t very familiar with Hawaiian history. But, for those audience members who are at least willing to do their own fact checking, Forby’s film is nothing more than a vague history lesson seen through rose-colored glasses. Most of this stems from the fact that Forby chose to research personal letters instead of textbooks. Yes, letters are more likely to provide better insight to the characters; however, it is rather misleading for filmmakers to rely on subjective opinion over objective facts if they’re trying to pass off their film as an accurate biopic.

Another problem with Forby’s subjective storytelling is that he omitted quite a few details about what really happened in Hawaii during its annexation. Granted, he does show how the European business community conspired against the king in order to convert most of Hawaii into their own private plantations. Yet, he completely overshadows these important fragmented facts with the romance between Ka’iulani and Davies. Did their romance really exist? If so, it’s never mentioned in any textbook of Hawaiian history. Ironically, what Forby makes no mention of is the princess’ official engagement to Prince David Kawananakoa that made by the queen to secure the royal Hawaiian bloodline.[1]

Even more ridiculous is the film’s claim that Princess Ka’iulani died of a broken heart over the loss of her country. Of course, all of the princess’ travelling between tropical Hawaii and cold, dank England had no impact on her health. Nor, is it possible for the princess to have come down with any illness after being caught in a storm while horseback riding shortly before her death.[2] Apparently, that’s the conclusion Forby came to after consulting all those unbiased Hawaiian linguistic, historic, and cultural experts and reading his assortment of personal letters.

What the film does have going for it is Q’Orianka Kilcher. Unfortunately, it’s the same actress in the same story we saw in Terrence Malick’s The New World, in which a native princess sees the European takeover of her homeland, gets sent to England, formally educated, and falls in love with a Brit. Only this time, Kilcher’s performance is trapped within a lame version of “Masterpiece Theatre” instead of a real movie. Forby is clueless when it comes to composing truly compelling scenes; and, his lack of directorial experience shows in the film’s flattened dialogue, overabundance of pretty landscapes, and onslaught of classical music. If you squint your eyes hard enough, it could even pass for a Disney film (minus the musical numbers).

At times, it seems like all of Forby’s emphasis on researching subjective personal views over objective textbook facts clouded his cinematic version. But, maybe that’s what he wanted? Maybe he was trying to distract us from the ugly Americans’ annexation of Hawaii with a bunch of pretty pictures about a fabricated romance? Hell, why not? Most people don’t want the ugly truth. Or, do they? If you’re in the minority who’d rather hear the truth, you’ll definitely want to brush up on your Hawaiian history before viewing Princess Ka’iulani. However, if you’re in the vast majority of American audiences who don’t, you’ll probably like Forby’s rose-colored version of history.


© Left From Hollywood 6/11/2010


[1]http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=2&res=9C04E3DA1638E433A25751C1A9649C94699ED7CF

[2] http://www.hawaii-nation.org/hawaiis-own1.html

Please Give

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classic

It’s been four years since Nicole Holofcener’s last film, Friends With Money, nearly drove me insane trying to figure out why it pissed me off as much as it did. Now, she’s back with another multi-dimensional character study of the haves versus the have-nots. Only, this time Holofcener has whittled her narcissistic characters with money issues down to one instead of four in her latest film, Please Give.

Shot in a simplistic filmmaking style reminiscent of Dogma 95, the main focus of Please Give revolves around Kate (Catherine Keener) and her husband Alex (Oliver Platt) whom make their living buying furniture from the relatives of recently deceased people and selling it for profit in their trendy 10th Avenue shop in Manhattan. Consumed with guilt for profiting off other people’s loss, Kate tries to compensate by handing out cash to every homeless person she sees on the street.

Of course, this only angers Kate’s 15 year old daughter Abby (Sarah Steele) who doesn’t understand why her mother would rather give money to every needy person who crosses her path than buy Abby the $200 pair of designer jeans that she wants, especially since Kate has no problem spending that much money on jeans for herself. Alex, on the other hand, doesn’t share Kate’s guilt, and frequently sides with Abby in the ongoing jeans war.

The couple have also purchased the apartment next door for the sole purpose of expanding their own digs through renovation upon the death of its current occupant, 91 year old Andra (Ann Guilbert). Andra is looked after by her granddaughters, the shy, responsible Mary (Amanda Peet), and the blunt, self-centered Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), both of whom frequently refer to Kate and Alex as “vultures.”

Are Kate and Alex really vultures? Yes and no. Much like the narrative layers of this complex story, every character in the film has their good and their bad points. To illustrate this, Holofcener offsets the sad elements that comprise these characters’ mundane lives with everyday comedic folly. Amongst death and all its relics, you’ll find love, witty banter, teen angst, and squishy mammograms.

Holofcener based Kate and Alex’s apartment scenario on a similar incident encountered by one of her friends; and, even shot the film in the same building in which her friend currently lives. Holofcener also states that Kate’s inner turmoil mirrors her own guilty conscience for having money. Yet, after watching the film, it’s plain to see that it isn’t a matter of ethics weighing on Kate’s mind. It’s really about narcissism and the real meaning of charity.

Even though Kate spends the film's entire 90 minute run-time blindly navigating her way through this delusional soul search, she still ends up at a seemingly wrong conclusion. No, Kate doesn’t realize it’s the wrong conclusion; and, kudos to Holofcener for keeping the character true to life. Whether or not we like to admit it, most people don’t do charity work to make those in need feel better. They do it to make themselves feel better.

Kate's real agenda is most evident in the scene where she bursts into tears while watching a group of perfectly happy, content children with Down Syndrome playing basketball. She’s so wrapped up in feeling sorry for them, it’s evident she has no interest in sharing their feelings. Kate’s only concerned whether or not helping them will make her feel better. Eventually, Kate’s guilt subsides after she breaks down and buys the $200 jeans for Abby. Why? Like everyone else in the realm of charity and volunteer work, Kate only feels better when she’s personally affected by the results of her efforts.

Overall, Nicole Holofcener presents us with an honest, yet humorous, look inside the lives of her narcissistic characters in Please Give. Sometimes, it’s funny. Sometimes, it’s poignant. Sometimes you just don’t know what to feel for these mixed-up characters, masterfully played by one hell of a gifted cast. For once, it's nice to see that a Holofcener film isn’t as shallow as its characters seem.


© Left From Hollywood 6/4/2010