To most of the world, Waikiki is a shiny tourist destination with combed white-sand beaches, gentle surf and room service.
Not so for filmmaker James Sereno and novelist Chris McKinney, who have teamed up to create “Broke,” a dark tale of failed dreams they are filming in and around Waikiki.
Their story of Ray and Misha will take audiences into an alley of local life rarely told on the big screen. Sereno views it as a universal story in which hopes crash like waves on a reef and the reality of Hawaii’s high cost of living tempts people to do things they know are wrong.
“It’s a very dark world,” Sereno said. “This is a young couple living in Waikiki trying to survive and make a life and they get caught up in drugs and prostitution and this spiraling-downward world that seizes their life and sends them out of control.”
Sereno is known around town primarily for his work in TV commercials and short productions he made through Kinetic Films. A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema/Television, Sereno has created fictional narratives that explored Hawaii through the lens of culture.
“Paradise Broken,” which has been in the making for a year, is Sereno’s biggest project to date. He hopes to enter the $200,000 feature in film festivals. It stars Dante Basco as Ray and Nadine Heinmann as Misha.
“It’s part of my mission to try and tell authentic local stories,” he said.
McKinney was a natural choice to breathe life into Sereno’s vision. The author of “Tattoo,” “Bolohead Row” and other works has often explored the subterranean, gritty world of drugs, strip bars and gambling in Hawaii. An English instructor at Honolulu Community College, he’s also worked with prison inmates and homeless teenagers in Waikiki.
“My thing has always been realism,” McKinney said. “To get everything right and make sure everything is believable.”
That philosophy extended to the set recently when the cameras set up in a real massage parlor.
“It was important that it was set in Waikiki because that is the picture-postcard image of Hawaii,” he said. “I imagine this as looking at a well-furnished house and in the basement there is some crazy stuff going on. Waikiki has a basement that even people from here are not aware of.”
news feed
