Tribeca Film Festival 2025 Review: “Honeyjoon”

By Morgan Roberts

Director: Lilian T. Mehrel
Writer: Lilian T. Mehrel
Stars: Ayden Mayeri, Amira Casar, José Condessa
Runtime: 80 minutes
Year: 2025

In “Honeyjoon,” June (Ayden Mayeri), an American, and her Persian-Kurdish mother, Lela (Amira Casar) vacation in the beautiful Azores islands. However, this is more than a mother-daughter trip. Their visit to the Azores islands coincides with the one year anniversary of the death of June’s father. Surrounded by honeymooners at their resort, the pair confront their grief and their desires in life in different ways. In her feature directorial debut, Lilian T. Mehrel explores how grief can take shape in diverging ways and how it can reshape a mother-daughter relationship.

The film presents June and Lela at odds, not in blatant conflict but in only the subtle, nuanced ways mothers and daughters can be. Lela harbors some slight disapproval with her daughter in how she dresses and presents herself to the world. Yet, deeply cares, worrying about her daughter in not always the most helpful of ways. Meanwhile, June is constantly in fear her mother will say something which embarrasses her, especially in front of their attractive tour guide João (José Condessa). June reads her mother’s concerns largely as critiques, frustrating her. Mehrel cleverly embeds the dynamics between these women in her script, exploring the layers of their relationship through this tug of war as June aims to recapture her joy and Lela desperately wants to interrogate how this profound loss has changed them.

Left to right: Ayden Mayeri as June, Amira Casar as Lela | Photo Credit: Inés Gowland

“Honeyjoon” is anchored by two powerful performances. Mayeri, known for supporting roles in films such as “Spin Me Round” or series like “I Love That For You,” shines in the central role. She gives June nuance and layers which allow for all of the messy, vulnerable parts of her grief to come through in a beautiful way. June’s thirst for joie de vivre is made all that more believable by Mayeri’s honest and sensitive performance. Casar, likewise, gives an emotionally charged and deeply moving performance. A veteran of both American and European cinema, Casar feels so effortless as Lela, exuding her grief through her care and concern for her daughter. Casar and Mayeri are a natural fit as mother and daughter, perfectly balancing their characters’ different but parallel journeys.

Mehrel’s voice shines through as this journey unfolds, finding ways to dig deeper into June and Lela’s grief, while also allowing them moments of joy. Mehrel is able to allow Lela and June private moments from themselves, which then add shades and hues to their relationship throughout the film.

The cinematography by Inés Gowland beautifully gives the film an etherial feel. The imagery allows melancholy and magic, heartbreak and happiness, joy and sadness exist in this practically heaven on earth location. Beauty and grief are allowed to exist simultaneously, and how these characters are captured in this settling only accentuates those muddled mix of emotions.

“Honeyjoon” is a stunning depiction of grief, and the reflections found in the mother-daughter relationship. Casar and Mayeri both give such moving and vulnerable performances, it is easy to join them on their journey. Mehrel clearly gives her all in her first feature, laying bare the human experience.

Grade: A
Pair This Film With: “Lady Bird” (2017) dir. Greta Gerwig; “The Meddler” (2015) dir. Lorene Scafaria; “The Persian Version” (2023) dir. Maryam Keshavarz

For more about “Honeyjoon,” you can visit the film’s Tribeca Film Festival page here.