THE STORY – In the scintillating, pop-infused world of a Japanese boarding school that trains teenage girls to become professional mermaids, 17-year-old Akame learns to hold her breath, perform for adoring crowds, and swim alongside sharks. Under her silicone mermaid tail, Akame will find her siren voice, discover first love and experience a metamorphosis, turning performance into transformation.
THE CAST – Arisa Sasaki, Melina Mardini, Haruna Matsui, Masahiro Higashide & Sei Matobu
THE TEAM – Konstantina Kotzamani (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 130 Minutes
The likes of Yorgos Lanthimos have firmly established Greek cinema as a safe space for wild experimentation, where flights of fancy are taken seriously, and even the oddest of circumstances are treated as fodder for emotionally rich and deeply insightful narratives. Konstantina Kotzamani’s latest is itself something that feels at once familiar and ground-breaking, with just enough weirdness and exoticism to find fans following what’s sure to be a “Splash”-y premiere.
“Titanic Ocean” is the tale of a boarding school for young mermaids, training to take their place on the international aquarium circuit, where their graceful underwater balletic moves are added to scenes of sharks and other swimming fishies. The cast, led by Arisa Sasaki, plays characters that feel at home in just about any school drama, echoing everything from “Harry Potter” to “Glee” as the various cliques and usual competitive nonsense come to the fore.
It’s interesting, perhaps, to contrast with one of the highlights of last year’s Cannes, the under-appreciated Charlie Polinger film “The Plague.” Whereas that title amplified the stakes to “Lord of the Flies” levels of sociopathy and used its stark realism to tell the tale of a different kind of aquatic training, Kotzamani’s colorful film lacks the same sense of ennui and bleakness. Instead, there’s a jaunty, J-pop sheen even when there are moments of misery, providing a pop sensibility that underscores certain emotional beats but also resists finding deeper emotional connections with the characters.
The dream-like world of the mermaids makes for a visually sumptuous viewing, and with the colorfully dyed hair and various snarky commentary, there’s a campness that some may find compelling. Sasaki’s sadsack routine never gets too cloying, but there’s little to truly become engaged with, save for the overt and superficial connections between the various, otherwise two-dimensionally drawn characters.
If anything, “Titanic Ocean” feels a bit soggy, unable to float its conceit for the duration of the film. Everything kind of blends together at some point, and there’s little in the way of narrative surprise despite the surreal premise. Basically, it comes across as a run-of-the-mill teen drama, even if the women aren’t quite relegated to high school hijinks. It feels like the film is pre-baked to achieve cult status, the strangeness is at best skin deep, and despite the many fishy flourishes, the end result is surprisingly dull.
Still, for those hungry to see a bunch of writhing women practicing breathing techniques, donning free-diving fins, and emblazoning themselves in sparkly, skimpy costumes, this may be a pool worth diving into. The thumping score by Patricia Ferragud and the dayglo, fluorescent photography by Raphaël Vandenbussche may be enough to sustain interest for this otherwise oddly straightforward film.
There’s a real hunger from certain audiences for this kind of work, and there’s little needed to dissuade those who wish to embrace the world and heed the siren-like call of this fish-girl film. Yet for those not preternaturally committed to the film’s preexisting charms, there may be less impetus to fully embrace what transpires. While its execution may be middling at best, “Titanic Ocean” still holds enough water to allow some viewers to plunge into its particular brand of fun.
