Frank Merle’s 'NAMAKA' Review: An Award-Winning Hawaiian Fantasy That Never Finds Its Spell

Ash Tsai as Namaka, the mysterious supernatural woman whose encounter with a visiting musician sets Frank Merle’s Hawaiian fantasy-mystery in motion. (Courtesy Photo)

Frank Merle’s 'NAMAKA'  Review: An Award-Winning Hawaiian Fantasy That Never Finds Its Spell

“Namaka,” Frank Merle’s 92-minute fantasy-mystery starring Jamie Kennedy, Ash Tsai and Jason Markoff, has collected 16 film-festival awards. Its story of Hawaiian myth, desire and cultural respect is intriguing in concept but never fully comes together on screen.

As much as I wanted to like “Namaka,” Frank Merle’s Hawaiian fantasy-mystery about a visiting musician drawn into a supernatural conflict, I did not. The film’s 16 festival awards raise an unavoidable question: What persuaded so many groups of judges to honor it?

Perhaps the answer is the premise, which is sound as a bell. “Namaka” makes large points about respecting the unseen and honoring the beliefs of others. It follows Alex Cook (Jason Markoff), a Midwestern musician on a Hawaiian vacation, whose encounter with the enigmatic Namaka (Ash Tsai) draws him into a world he does not understand. The story has the bones of a cautionary fable about a visitor who mistakes an unfamiliar place and culture for an escape route from his own life.

Perhaps the awards reflect the broad-stroke comedy that colors the film from beginning to end. Or perhaps I missed the joke from the start. “Namaka” often seems designed to be bad on purpose: its line readings, performances, and heightened reactions lean into an awkwardness that may be intentional. If that was the goal, the film achieves it. But knowing awkwardness alone does not sustain comedy, and “Namaka” rarely transforms its unevenness into humor, suspense, or surprise.

There is, I will admit, a charm to the awkwardness of every character in the film. The performances are earnest, and there is something warm in the lightness of the film’s point of view, even as the plot introduces a vanished body, an erupting volcano, an imperiled marriage and a mysterious woman who may be a demigod.

Jamie Kennedy brings commitment to Guy Torino, a tiki-bar regular and self-described authority on Hawaii’s hidden history. Ash Tsai gives Namaka a quiet, elusive presence, while Jason Markoff plays Alex with the wide-eyed susceptibility the story requires. Their sincerity is the film’s most durable quality; it keeps “Namaka” from collapsing entirely under the weight of its tonal uncertainty.

Still, I wanted more and never got it. The film assembles a promising set of elements: a family vacation, a Hawaiian forest, a strange woman in traditional dress, a body that vanishes before police can find it, and a shell offered as a makana—a gift that becomes an instrument of enchantment. Yet Merle never finds a tone capable of holding the mythology, comedy, romance, and cautionary plot together.

“Namaka” gestures toward ideas about desire, marital boundaries, cultural trespass, and the danger of seeking transformation without understanding the place one has entered. Guy Torino’s warnings, Namaka’s seduction of Alex, and the volcanic anger associated with Pele give the story the makings of an engaging supernatural fable. The material wants to explore what happens when a visitor treats Hawaii as a backdrop for personal reinvention, rather than as a place with its own spiritual and cultural gravity.

But the film does not develop those ideas with enough conviction. Its mythology remains largely decorative, and its comic rhythm does not consistently support the darker aspects of the story. The result is a film whose concept carries more resonance than the scenes built around it.

The 16 film-festivals that “Namaka” have won include Best Fantasy Feature Film at the Las Vegas International Film & Screenwriting Festival; Best Actor for Jamie Kennedy at Endowment Film Fest; Best Fantasy Film and Best Score from the MLC Awards of Green Bay; and 12 honors from the Global Indie Filmmaker Awards: Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress for Ash Tsai, Best Actor for Jason Markoff, Best Supporting Actor for David Howard Thornton, Best Musical, Most Creative Concept, Best Producer, Best Low Budget Film, Most Innovative Production and Film of the Year.

The award record is real. 

Merle, “Namaka’s” writer, director, and producer, is a member of the Producers Guild of America and an award-winning filmmaker with a background in theater directing and producing. After graduating first in his class from DePaul University’s former Goodman School of Drama, he co-founded Chicago’s Keyhole Theatre Company and served as its artistic director, producing more than 30 professional stage productions before turning to film in 2006.

His previous work includes the thriller “The Employer,” starring Malcolm McDowell and Billy Zane, and three films in the “Jennifer” series: “For Jennifer,” “2 Jennifer” and “From Jennifer,” starring Derek Mears and Tony Todd. His other feature producing credits include “Forgotten,” “Bloodthirst,” “All Gone Wrong,” “Catfish Christmas,” “Three Little Creeps,” “Nest of Vampires,” and “Blood Covered Chocolate.”

“Namaka” Credits

Director: Frank Merle

Writer: Frank Merle

Producer: Frank Merle

Cast: Jamie Kennedy, Ash Tsai, Jason Markoff, Spencer Breslin, David Howard Thornton, Erin Killean, Jennifer Grace Farmer

Cinematographer: Richard Trejo

Genre: Fantasy, Mystery

To learn more about where to see the film, go to their website:  

https://namakamovie.com/

https://namakamovie.com/’s official site identifies Frank Merle as director and lists the film as available to stream