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“Reeling,” Yana Alliata’s striking debut, greets us with a single, fluid take that guides Ryan (Ryan Wuestewald) across his family’s O‘ahu estate. The shot’s patient choreography—reminiscent of the long takes in Satyajit Ray’s Charulata or Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s early work—invites us into Ryan’s fractured world as he rediscovers faces and places made strange by haunting gaps in his memory. The luau’s sunlit warmth and rhythmic beat of drums evoke the communal rituals of Bollywood’s colorful crowd scenes, only here they underscore a growing dissonance: laughter and volleyball amid an undercurrent of isolation.

Much like the parallel cinema of India, which privileged human struggle over spectacle, “Reeling” blends scripted drama with improvised moments drawn from Alliata’s real-life friends and family. The result is a palpable authenticity—every roasted pig and whispered greeting feels rooted in genuine emotion. Over a lean 70 minutes,...

Reeling

Director Yana Alliata's feature début, Reeling, unfolds during a Hawaiian luau celebration. Ryan (Ryan Wuestewald), who suffered a traumatic brain injury and has been living with his mother, returns to the family homestead to celebrate his sister Meg's (Nikki DeParis) birthday. He struggles to fit in with family and friends, especially his brother John (Hans Christopher). As the birthday celebrations unfold, Ryan begins to recover memories from the day of his tragic accident.

Alliata's previous credits include 2011's Requiem For Emily, about a grief stricken husband who confronts his own mortality after the death of his wife; 2017's Rush, which mixes the paranormal with a hazing prank gone wrong; and 2024's interrogation drama, Portrait Of A Grieving Housewife.

Alliata, alongside Ryan Wuestewald, Hans Christopher and Nikki DeParis spoke to Eye For Film about their individual and collaborative experiences of making a film with personal undertones. They discussed the appeal.

Reeling

Director Yana Alliata's feature début, Reeling, unfolds during a Hawaiian luau celebration. Ryan (Ryan Wuestewald), who suffered a traumatic brain injury and has been living with his mother, returns to the family homestead to celebrate his sister Meg's (Nikki DeParis) birthday. He struggles to fit in with family and friends, especially his brother John (Hans Christopher). As the birthday celebrations unfold, Ryan begins to recover memories from the day of his tragic accident.

Alliata's previous credits include 2011's Requiem For Emily, about a grief stricken husband who confronts his own mortality after the death of his wife; 2017's Rush, which mixes the paranormal with a hazing prank gone wrong; and 2024's interrogation drama, Portrait Of A Grieving Housewife.

Alliata, alongside Ryan Wuestewald, Hans Christopher and Nikki DeParis spoke to Eye For Film about their individual and collaborative experiences of making a film with personal undertones. They discussed the appeal.

Perhaps the most consistent human reaction to suffering is indifference, and, in a paradoxically twisted way, that's kind of a consequence of empathy. Call it "pain-responsive apathy," if you will. The more we learn about and engage with a painful tragedy or a cruel condition, the more it affects us and the guiltier we feel. That's why most people would rather donate money from a distance than get physically involved; it's less painful to write a check to a dog shelter than to see the loneliness of caged pups, many of whom are destined to die. This phenomenon can be applied more personally; it's sad and awkward to visit your grandparents in a nursing home or talk to a truly depressed friend. The new film Reeling intimately explores this tendency, evoking pain-responsive apathy in a way that makes the audience feel the same as the uncomfortable characters on screen.

Reeling,...

“Reeling” opens with a long, ominous one-shot in which the familiar experience of returning home takes on a strange, uncanny hue. Ryan (Ryan Wuestewald) arrives at his family’s Oahu estate, after an unspecified time away. As the camera trails behind him and he walks the ground of the homestead, he encounters a parade of family friends who greet him warmly, and who he looks at almost like they’re aliens. Even his siblings, Meg (Nikki DeParis) and John (Hans Christopher), are treated with initial hesitation before they (re)introduce themselves. As a quiet panic becomes obvious in Ryan’s eyes, the happy return begins to feel like a nightmare.

Executive-produced by Werner Herzog, whose influence can be felt in the film’s mix of improv and scripted scenes, “Reeling” frequently pauses the narrative to observe the young, attractive party at the celebratory luau Meg throws for her birthday, as they play volleyball,...

Shorts filmmaker Yana Alliata, who has worked in various film industry jobs makes her feature debut in Reeling, a dark Hawaii-set drama that’s executive produced by Werner Herzog and deals with trauma, memory and the implicit horror of family gatherings. The movie begins with a long, gliding steadicam shot of Ryan (Ryan Wuestewald) entering his family’s ranch-style Hawaii home, where the clan is gathered for a Lu-au that’s also something of a memorial for the their late patriarch. The family is welcoming, but Ryan, beneath the forced smiles, signals fight-or-flight mode, a mental […]

The post “I Aimed to Capture the Subtle Cruelties of Social Isolation”: Yana Alliata On Her Herzog-EP’d SXSW Drama, Reeling first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Shorts filmmaker Yana Alliata, who has worked in various film industry jobs makes her feature debut in Reeling, a dark Hawaii-set drama that’s executive produced by Werner Herzog and deals with trauma, memory and the implicit horror of family gatherings. The movie begins with a long, gliding steadicam shot of Ryan (Ryan Wuestewald) entering his family’s ranch-style Hawaii home, where the clan is gathered for a Lu-au that’s also something of a memorial for the their late patriarch. The family is welcoming, but Ryan, beneath the forced smiles, signals fight-or-flight mode, a mental […]

The post “I Aimed to Capture the Subtle Cruelties of Social Isolation”: Yana Alliata On Her Herzog-EP’d SXSW Drama, Reeling first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.