Hawaii is a 2013 Spanish language romantic drama film by Argentine director Marco Berger. Set in rural Argentina, it tells the story of two young men from different social backgrounds coming to terms with their growing attraction for each other.
MartÃÂn (Mateo Chiarino), an orphan, arrives at his former hometown hoping to stay with his aunt after his grandmother had died. He finds out that his aunt had moved without leaving a forwarding address. With no place to stay and little money, he beds down behind the ruins of an abandoned building. He looks around for odd jobs and is eventually hired by the writer Eugenio (Manuel Vignau), a former childhood playmate. MartÃÂn does not want to admit that he is homeless, and lies to Eugenio that he is staying with his aunt. Eugenio eventually finds out about MartÃÂn's situation and convinces MartÃÂn to stay at his house for the summer.
At first Eugenio does not seemingly remember much about MartÃÂn, but little by little they start to recall their shared memories as children. Eugenio realizes his growing attraction to MartÃÂn but is reluctant to pursue it, as he does not want to seem to be taking advantage of MartÃÂn's current financial situation. He is also afraid that even if the soft-spoken MartÃÂn might reciprocate his feelings, it might only be because MartÃÂn feels indebted to him. MartÃÂn himself is attracted to Eugenio, but he does not know if Eugenio is gay. And given his current circumstances, he does not want to presume anything based on Eugenio's kindness.
Nonetheless, Eugenio and MartÃÂn slowly grow closer together, and Eugenio finds it becoming increasingly difficult to hide his attraction. One day while moving some furniture, Eugenio accidentally knocks over some drawings of naked men from his desk. MartÃÂn sees the drawings, but Eugenio pointedly avoids talking about it. It dawns on MartÃÂn that Eugenio might be attracted to him. MartÃÂn confirms his suspicions when he sees Eugenio's flustered reaction after he deliberately strips in front of Eugenio one night under the guise of wanting to do laundry.
MartÃÂn kisses Eugenio the next morning, confident that Eugenio is also attracted to him. But Eugenio unexpectedly rebuffs him, and MartÃÂn leaves confused. That afternoon, Eugenio discovers that MartÃÂn had packed up and left. He searches for him for several days but is unable to find him. Eugenio remembers MartÃÂn reminiscing about "" ('two pineapples'). He realizes that MartÃÂn was talking about a picture from a Hawaii reel that they used to look at on a View-Master as children. He looks for the reel and the old View-Master and leaves them behind the abandoned building where MartÃÂn had been sleeping. A few days later, MartÃÂn comes back, carrying the View-Master with him. They smile at each other and kiss.
Hawaii was produced by a partnership between director and screenwriter Marco Berger and the musician/composer Pedro Irusta. It was funded through Kickstarter campaigns. The first campaign with a target budget of $40,000, ended unsuccessfully. The campaign was relaunched with a smaller target budget of $20,000. It successfully raised $27,000 allowing the shooting to continue. Berger describes Hawaii as a "Jane Austen contemporary story", noting that it evokes the same classic tale of two people from different social backgrounds and the dynamics between the powerful and the helpless.
The film was an official selection at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI), the of the BFI London Film Festival, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and films festivals in Barcelona, Seoul, Taipei, Copenhagen, and Berlin.