Plastic Paradise: A Swingin' Trip Through America's Polynesian Obsession (2013)
54 min
Plastic Paradise is the first documentary to chronicle the rise, fall, and resurgence of tiki, or Polynesian pop, one of the defining cultural trends of postwar America. Think South Pacific, candy-colored, rum-infused cocktails with names like the Shrunken Skull and the Missionary's Downfall, crazy Hawaiian shirts, exotica music, and a nonstop party scene inhabited by self-styled nonconformists. That was then. Today, tiki has been embraced by a coast-to-coast underground hipster subculture of former punk rockers, vintage junkies, and escapists. Featuring historians and hula dancers, master mixologists, mermaids, and more, Plastic Paradise is your ticket to this little-known, fascinating scene, including a pilgrimage to the famed Mai-Kai Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale for Hukilau, an annual anything goes celebration that draws Polynesian popsters from all over the world.
- Release date
- June 9, 2013
- Country of origin
- Not yet available
Cast
- Josh 'Shag' Agle as Self
- Jeff 'Beachbum' Berry as Self
- Drew Birch as Narrator
- Richard Boccato as Self
- Tiki Bob Brooks as Self
- Mike Buhen as Self
- Wayne Coombs as Self
- Richard Coyle as Self
- Tim 'Swanky' Glazner as Self
- Harold Golen as Self
Crew
- Brett O'Bourke · Director
- Gaspar González · Writer
- Gaspar González · Producer
- Brett O'Bourke · Producer
- Richard Patterson · Cinematographer
- Jorge Rubiera · Cinematographer
- Jorge Rubiera · Editor