-Written by Michelle Vorob.
2024 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW!
Kum-Kum is a Saudi Arabian short film by Dur Jamjoom, about Duna (Nada Basaad), a teenager profoundly changed by a traumatic event.
Inspired by a true story from Jamjoom's own life experience, Kum-Kum opens with a group of friends out in the ocean, at a beach house. They're having a fun afternoon, including playing a game of chance (Kum-Kum) that foreshadows the events about to happen. The girls are going to go back out into the water to kayak, but one friend, Salwa (Dana Alkadhi) is hesitant. She tells Duna she can't swim well, but it falls on deaf ears. A little while later the other girls are out in the water, with Salwa still hesitating to get in the kayak and paddle out. Duna is relaxing in her kayak, waiting for Salwa, when she hears a commotion. Something is wrong, there's sounds of struggling, calls for help, before Duna fully realizes what's happening, something disastrous has occurred, Salwa has drowned.
It should be noted that the tragedy happens off-screen and we only hear it; all we see during the event is Duna, who now seems trapped in her kayak, when just a few seconds before, it was a paradise.
There are questions that naturally pop up after witnessing such a thing; why did the girls go out into the water without helping Salwa along? Why did they choose to go kayaking if everyone wasn't an expert swimmer? Why didn't anyone teach Salwa to swim? Why didn't Salwa have a life preserver or other protection? None of these things matter, because this is what always happens after a tragedy. It's easy to have hindsight when looking back. It's easy to [want to] pass judgment when on the outside, looking in.
We also know that no one on the outside can judge you harder than you judge yourself, especially in a situation like that. Accidents. Emergencies. No one could have known what would happen. Even expert swimmers are pulled into the undertow and can't always get themselves out. These kids were just enjoying the day, enjoying the water. There was a parent at the house. The weather was clear.
The sad reality is that life is often like a game of chance. Nothing is guaranteed, except change. Quite a lesson for someone who's essentially still a kid. It's hard enough for adults. Duna retracts into herself, away from friends and everyone. Filled with grief and regret, she is no longer a child.
We then see a more mature Duna at the beach, with her little sister [we first briefly see as an infant], now about seven or eight, playing near the water, asking Duna to teach her to swim. Duna tries to discourage her sister from going in the water, telling her to be safe, until she realizes her sister, not sharing her fear, views the water with joy and should learn to swim, having that positive association. Duna agrees to teach her sister and they both go into the water. Duna patiently guides her sister, both of them happy in that moment. The camera pans out, and we're left with the silhouettes of Duna and her sister, amongst the beautiful and vast ocean.
Kum-Kum is an excellent film, which adeptly covers feelings of helplessness, grief, and finally, acceptance, in the face of an accident that ends in tragedy.
Written and Directed by Dur Jamjoom.
Starring Nada Basaad, Dana Alkadhi, Duha Alsibaie, Raneem Khalifa, Waad Shaat, Huda Alhanafi, Dana Afandi, Rama Kashmiri, etc.
9/10 = DROP EVERYTHING AND WATCH IT NOW
