Film Recommendation

Mermaids’ Lament: A Film that Heals

Are Mermaids Real? Does it Matter?

An Accomplishment

Mermaids’ Lament (2023), directed by G.B. Hajim, is an independent film that I only knew about because of my acquaintance with an actor in the film. Reading up on it, I found out that the filmmaker lives and works in Hawai’i and the film was cast with local actors. It is an accomplishment to bring a film to life, but a mystery how it can get to broader audiences.

A Process of Understanding

Justina Mattos, who chairs the performing arts department at the University of Hilo, is one of the two leads in the film about the relationship between a therapist and a woman who believes she is a mermaid. Though I recognized the setting as the island of Hawai’i, the location is not identified as such. It is only important that it is a place accessible to the ocean. As viewers, it seems we go through a process of understanding the situation through the therapist, Nell, played by Justina. When she first encounters her, she assumes she is homeless and mentally ill. When Nell realizes that Oee (the mermaid, played by Dayva Summer Escobar) is in danger and there are no resources to take of her, she takes her in. As they live together, we see the inner world of the…