Those outside the Tiki culture may look at it with disdain. Too many people see fun-colored drinks and umbrellas and refuse to take it seriously. However, The Donn of Tiki – currently playing at the 2024 Florida Film Festival, is among the earnest documentaries of the year. Diving deep into the history of Tiki culture, specifically the life of Donn Beach, director Alex Lamb tells the tale with impeccable craft. What could have been an easy talking heads documentary incorporates unbelievable animation and comedy. Investigating the tall tales of Beach’s life becomes an extremely fun experience.
Born as Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, Donn Beach became an icon in the Tiki Culture movement. His devotion to bringing authenticity and unique experiences through drinks, food, and intimate settings helped him gain acclaim. Donn, a consummate showman, also showcased an impeccable talent for marketing. After rising through Hollywood’s Speakeasy scene, Beach traveled the world, found himself unlucky in love several times, and even brushed elbows with the mob. When you invent the iconic drink, The Zombie, you have a lot to live up to. Somehow, Donn made his life seem even grander.
Lamb pulls together many of the best Tiki historians and public officials to tell Donn’s tale. Donn only passed away in 1989, so many of the biggest names in the culture knew him on a personal level. Considering his incredible influence, his stories also spread like wildfire. Lamb keeps the tall-tale nature intact throughout The Donn of Tiki, highlighting just how the stories evolved and often contradicted themselves. Yet for Donn, the stakes were relatively low in that sense. His passion for bringing tropical drinks around the world ultimately decided how he would live his life.
Bringing indigenous Hawaiian scholars and advocates also helps The Donn of Tiki avoid its most obvious issues. You would be right to worry that Donn’s actions could cross into cultural appropriation. He was caucasian, so this would not be the first time this occurred. However, many of the scholars and advocates claim he introduced traditional Hawaiian customs to white audiences. The Tiki Culture that Donn became integral in creating is a far cry from the cartoonish version that exists today. While The Donn of Tiki lays out a fair case to support Donn, it’s still somewhat questionable if his actions are entirely devoid of criticism.
As the story grows stranger, Lamb incorporates The Donn of Tiki’s most important choice: animation. This is not a couple of scenes in the same style, either. Lamb’s animators traverse styles and mediums. For some sequences, claymation and stop-motion in the style of Rankin-Bass stand out. In others, a 1920s cartoon version of Donn pours drinks. Even a lively and fluid animation sequence sparks to life as Donn travels the world. With so many different styles and visuals on display, The Donn of Tiki becomes far more visually inventive than you would guess at the start.
With brilliant visuals and the most passionate fans of the culture featured throughout the documentary, you feel the love for Tiki Culture. While it could be easy to poke fun at Donn and his hair-brained schemes, Lamb never does. He shoots the fanboys with care and decency. He also works well with an animation team to bring Donn back to life for the movie. This touch ultimately lifts The Donn of Tiki from a mid-tier documentary to one of the best of the festival.
