Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie

THE HAUMANA

The centerpiece of local boy Keo Woolford’s directorial debut is hula. Lovingly filmed and set to a lush soundtrack, the traditional dance is nothing less than revered. The script that surrounds the dance is less impressive — Woolford hammers his messages of family, cultural respect and hard work home with a sledgehammer of subtlety in this story of a young man who has lost touch with his roots — but obvious isn’t always a bad thing.

Plays at 1 p.m. Nov. 12 at Doris Duke Theatre

WISH I WAS HERE

A family in crisis — at least in the movies — will always be able to overcome all obstacles through the determination and love that can only be fostered through contrived situations of crisis. Thus goes Zach Braff’s sophomore film, which finds his aimless actor-wannabe Aidan trying to decide whether following his dreams is still viable as a 30-something with a family. There are moments of sweetness, but the familiar kind, like you’ve seen all of this somewhere before.

Plays at 3:30 and 7 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Movie Museum

AWAKE: THE LIFE OF YOGANANDA

Everyone and their grandma (or at least my grandma) does yoga these days, but it was Paramahansa Yogananda who brought yoga and meditation culture to America from India, with positive and controversial results. This documentary traces that journey — an overview that at times reads like the most fawning of textbooks — buoyed with plenty of interviews, archival footage and mystical reenactments. It isn’t the deepest of films, but it tells a compelling story for practitioners.

Opens Nov. 14 at Kahala Theatre