Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani’s Titanic Ocean transposes the familiar mermaid myth into contemporary girl culture through a group of girls training in ‘mermaiding’ at a Japanese mermaid academy. Instead of their real names, the girls take stage names like ‘Deep Sea’, ‘Eternal Sunset’, and ‘Yokohama Blue’ dyeing their hair in colors all their own as they train to become professional mermaids. Expected to meet exacting standards of beauty, flexibility, and breath control, the girls feel the pressure of a punishing physical regimen and a fiercely competitive culture (evoking, in many ways, K-POP idol industry). The story centers on Deep Sea, who nurses a crush on Kotaro, the swim coach at the mermaid academy, layering the siren myth of seduction and ruin over Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, with its motifs of first love, loss of voice, and transformation. A dreamlike fantasy of girls setting themselves free from within a system of desire. (LEE Juhyun)