The Global Search for Education: Trauma, Memory, and Masculinity in Film

Posted By C. M. Rubin on Jul 9, 2026

C.M. (Cathy) Rubin in Conversation with Tamzen Lim

This month on the Planet Classroom Network YouTube channel, audiences can watch In the Shallows, a contemporary dramatic film curated by Planet Classroom.

Directed by Tamzen Lim, In the Shallows is a psychological coming-of-age story set in Hawai‘i that follows a high-school swim prodigy confronting buried trauma as a haunting figure from his past resurfaces. As championship pressure mounts, Jack’s internal struggle fractures his sense of identity, relationships, and future. Through ocean imagery and recurring visions, the film explores trauma, masculinity, guilt, and emotional silence.

Edited by Luke Yoshiyama, with cinematography by Dashiell Honma and an original score by Logyn Okuda, the film uses water, movement, and visual symbolism to externalize emotional conflict and psychological isolation.

The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Tamzen Lim.

C.M. Rubin: Tamzen, what inspired the story of In the Shallows, and why did you choose competitive swimming as the lens to explore trauma and memory?

Tamzen Lim: I originally wrote the script during my sophomore year of high school, around the same time conversations about university costs and how families planned to pay for them were becoming more serious. Many of my friends and I were student-athletes, so sports often felt tied to future opportunities and financial pressure. I became fascinated by how athletics could become a source of tension within families and how young people were managing the emotional weight placed on them by parents, coaches, and themselves.

When I returned to the project during my senior year, the first images I imagined were the underwater swimming sequences, which helped clarify the emotional direction of the story. Around that time, I had become obsessed with filming surf sessions using GoPros and underwater cameras, and later expanded that work while filming my swim and water polo teams. I love the way water transforms imagery — it can conceal a second story beneath the one visible on the surface.

Competitive swimming also allowed me to explore the physical expression of emotional processing. There is an irony in the story: Jack can be physically exposed — shirtless, in a speedo, or underwater — yet still feel safer than he does during emotionally vulnerable conversations. That contrast fascinated me because it reveals both the mental and physical power of trauma. I also wanted to explore how competitive sports, especially at the high-school level, can sometimes turn young male bodies into instruments of performance and expectation.

C.M. Rubin: Water plays a central role throughout the film. How did you use ocean imagery and visual symbolism to externalize Jack’s internal struggle?

Tamzen Lim: Water became a visual throughline throughout the film. Jack is almost never seen far from water — whether it is the pool, the ocean, the shower, or even a sink faucet. I wanted water to symbolize fluidity: physically, emotionally, and psychologically. That fluidity contrasts with Jack’s attempts to contain and suppress his emotions, while eventually becoming the space where those emotions are released.

The ocean, in particular, became an important contrast to the swimming pool. The pool reflects structure, pressure, and confinement, while the ocean represents something vast, unpredictable, and emotionally open.

I also find swimming fascinating because it disconnects your sense of time and space. During long stretches in the water, you are forced to be alone with yourself. Competitively, swimming is also about confronting previous versions of yourself and constantly trying to surpass them. I loved that duality and wanted the film to explore it emotionally as well as visually.

C.M. Rubin: The film explores pressure, masculinity, and emotional silence. What conversations did you hope to start about how young men process trauma?

Tamzen Lim: In high school, I began noticing how many of the young men around me used sports as their primary emotional outlet. In many ways, women are often encouraged to process emotions openly and seek support, while men are frequently pushed toward emotional suppression. That can create disconnection and strain within relationships and within themselves.

Using that observation as a starting point, I wanted to tell the story of a teenage boy who is struggling internally but ultimately seeks some form of emotional release. Depending on how audiences interpret the ending, that release may or may not come from reaching out for help. The ambiguity was important to me because trauma and healing are rarely straightforward.

C.M. Rubin: Jack’s emotional experience is often expressed through silence rather than dialogue. How did you work with your actors to convey emotion without over-explaining it?

Tamzen Lim: Luke Tobin, who plays Jack, actually had no formal acting experience before this project. I discovered him through a music video he appeared in for his girlfriend’s dance team. What immediately stood out was his ability to communicate emotion through his eyes alone, which became essential for a character who speaks very little throughout the film.

It also helped that Luke was a student-athlete himself, so he genuinely understood the emotional pressure connected to high-school sports and the expectations that come from families and coaches. Since he was also a varsity basketball player, he was physically prepared for the demanding nature of the role, including extensive running scenes and long hours in the pool.

My role as a director was largely about creating a safe and collaborative environment where he felt comfortable exploring the character emotionally. In many ways, Jack became an extension of parts of Luke’s own experiences, and watching that unfold naturally on set was incredibly special.

Through underwater imagery, restrained performances, and emotionally layered storytelling, In the Shallows explores how trauma, pressure, and silence shape identity — and how cinema can visualize emotions that are often left unspoken.

C.M. Rubin Thank you so much Tamzen!