Growing up, free-spirited Jo (H.E.R) hears stories of a ‘forgotten island’ called Nakali from her grandmother, Lola Fatima (Dolly de Leon). She retells this story in class, drawing mockery from her classmate and subsequent punishment from her teacher. Here, she meets Raissa (Liza Soberano), a tall, book smart girl who defends her, and the two become best friends, vowing one day to find Nakali. After high school, and years after the passing of Lola, Raissa announces that she is off to Caltech which disappoints Jo. On their last night together, Jo finds a magic sand dollar that opens a portal to Nakali, sending her and Raissa there less than 24 hours before Raissa’s flight.
When they get to Nakali, Jo and Raissa find themselves on a beach and realise they have lost 12 hours with no memory of the night before. In a race to find the sand dollar, they meet Raww (Dave Franco), a were-aspin; Batiba (Jenny Slate), a batibat; Bungi (Manny Jacinto), a giant baby Tiyanak; and Mermahn (Kevin McCan), a Kataw who help them find their way back home while running from the terrifying Manang (Lea Salonga), a Manananggal they had apparently stolen from the night before.
Forgotten Island, written and directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, is an explosion of fun. The film pulls from Filipino mythology to create the characters on the island, bringing us a world we have never seen before on the big screen. Forgotten Island plays with various art styles, calling to mind different anime-like animations, and even video game style talking head bubbles. It’s exciting, it’s funny, and it helps the audience feel every bit of the adventure our two leads go on.
When I first heard about Forgotten Island, I thought it would be a film mainly about forgotten history. I envisioned an island full of myths that maybe the new ways of life had caused our main characters to forget. Because of its inspiration, the film does somewhat call to this, but it makes the idea of memory much more personal. The only way for Jo and Raissa to get back home, as suggested by Batiba, is to give up an object tied to a very strong memory of theirs (“memories are magic,” she says, in a Poor Unfortunate Souls-esque pitch she gives them). But giving their memories up proves difficult – they are what made them who they are, what made their friendship so strong.
The idea of memory is fascinating to me. I believe a lot of colonised and enslaved people are kept bound because they were made to forget who they were, (oppressors thrive when history is revised to suit them) and when there is a disconnect from that memory – for the reason one’s way of life is the way it is, I think there is a potential in one that remains untapped. On a personal level, memories shape our thoughts and our actions, and when they’re gone, I think we lose our why.
On a more personal level still, I’ve experienced some loss recently that have reminded me how special memories of mundane moments/objects can be. The film reminds us of this too, that memories help us carry loved ones in our hearts even if they are far away.
Forgotten Island takes us on an adventure to a new magical world and helps us see that magic already exists in our own lives.
Forgotten Island is available in theatres on Friday, September 25th, 2026.
