A sincere and healing faux road trip drama that struggles to outright stick out from the crowd.
The title of Lilian Mehrel’s debut feature, premiering at the 2025 Tribeca film festival, HoneyJoon suggests a reversal of the classic relationship two hander. In a sense this mother-daughter dynamic is shaken up by the fact that Persian-American June (Ayden Mayeri) and her fiercely principled Persian-English mother Lela (Amira Caser) must share a room in a honeymoon suite intended for couples on a holiday intended for bonding. A film that isn’t afraid to sit in its deeper, more painful emotions it can end up feeling oppressive rather than wholly uplifting but still showcases an admirable sense of rebirth after loss.
The relatives find themselves on the romantic Portuguese island of Azores in order to honour the memory of their recently passed husband and father who expressed a love for the place. There is an immediately obvious, distinct cultural barrier as well as opposing ideas of how to grieve. June is using the trip to “have fun”, she sees no point in wallowing – she is a woman who lives with a level of freedom opposed by her heritage and her mother’s constant attempt to cover her up. Lela is visibly exhausted and depressed, constantly going off on some tangent about women’s liberation movements and oppression back home which June finds totally unhelpful. These early exchanges form the fragile bond between the pair builds a stilted, grungy atmosphere that can at times overwhelm the pockets of lightness.
There is a fine line between both the women’s roots and their different identities after the bereavement and the physical distance between them. Lela is extremely contradictory in her support of women’s rights and her censorship of June while June’s inability to sit with her feelings creates a chasm that is hard to bridge. When they decide to take a private tour of the archipelago they both bond with ruggedly handsome João (José Condessa) who offers an alternative, philosophical life perspective and their sense of purpose begins to repair.
Caser and Condessa put in the standout performances, Lela has the quality of a woman whose very bones ache with the heft of everyday life. Condessa is a warm and gentle presence as João despite his dark featured, striking appearance suggesting a more garish character. Mayeri is often good but can be slightly unconvincing in the film’s “larger” flourishes for her character and she can feel a bit of a horny, exasperated one note at times.
Mehrel’s direction is simplistic yet effective, she frames the beautiful, rocky landscapes in a pleasing visual style without taking too many creative risks. The cinematography from Inés Gowland creates an almost black and white feel to surroundings, rarely moving the camera and creating that sense of life in limbo after a tragedy. At a short 80 minutes there’s an inescapable feeling of slightness about the heavier themes the film explores. There are supposedly resplendent moments of an outpouring of deep rooted pain and healing late on that don’t quite have the desired effect although this is ultimately a well made film with good intentions and a surprisingly brooding and strange quality.
3 / 5
While it’s hard for Honeyjoon to feel completely different in a saturated genre there’s just enough here to consider booking the trip.
