Common Thread

“There once was an island far out in the sea, and on this island lived two gulls: a brother and a sister.” This narration opens Louis Paxton’s new film, The Incomer, which had its festival debut at Sundance (I was lucky to snag a virtual ticket to watch it). The absurd and quirky film does follow a pair of siblings who have lived alone on a remote island for decades, but they are humans rather than gulls. Though they do occasionally squawk and wear costumes inspired by the gulls who have been their only other companions for most of their lives.

Writer and director Paxton was inspired by the true story of siblings who lived on Swona, an island in the Pentland Firth off the coast of Scotland that was abandoned in the 1970s. While this sounds like the setup for a horror film, Paxton instead has created a zany comedy that explores concepts of isolation, connection, change, and othering.

Isla (Gayle Rankin) and her younger brother Sandy (Grant O’Rourke) go about their daily routines with a seriousness that highlights the absurdity of it. Mostly, they train to fend off “incomers,” the outsiders their father warned them they must not allow onto the island. They share an intense fear of “mainland folk” and a childish determination to make their father proud.

Isla’s only other companion is the water-bound Finman (John Hannah), who may or may not actually exist. The Finman is a creature of Orkney mythology who lures people into the water, but Isla is firm that she must stay on land. However, he’s the only person she can talk to, aside from her brother, who seems to have never developed past the mindset and mannerisms of a young boy. Both siblings seem frozen at the age they were when their parents disappeared, down to the way that their arguments frequently come to physical blows. Rankin and O’Rourke excellently demonstrate how their characters are frozen in time at a younger age, particularly with their tone of voice when speaking to each other.

The central conflict of the film comes when Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson) arrives on the island. He’s a Land Recovery Coordinator from the Northern Scottish Council, sent by his cartoonishly villainous boss (Michelle Gomez) to evict the pair of siblings from the island and relocate them to the mainland. Paxton gives us a flashback to Daniel being assigned this task, showing how unfulfilled and unappreciated he is in his usual life.

Gleeson perfectly portrays the confusion and shock the mild-mannered Daniel experiences when Isla and Sandy take him prisoner. Despite Isla’s mistrust, Sandy soon becomes fascinated by the “incomer” and his belongings, many of which he’s unfamiliar with. (One of my favorite scenes involves Daniel trying to explain veganism to the pair of siblings as they eat a seagull they caught.) The trio finally bonds over a love of telling stories, and there are beautiful animation sequences that illustrate Isla’s.

As Daniel tries to convince the pair to come to the mainland, he starts to reconsider whether life there is actually better. Some of the scenes in the second half of the film are arguably too silly, but the film’s humorous tone allows Paxton’s commentary on isolation and connection to be all the more effective. The film could easily have come across as pretentious, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The actors are fully committed to their roles, even the strangest parts, and Pat Golan’s cinematography perfectly illuminates the beautiful scenery of the Scottish Highlands and Caithness, where they filmed.

It’s perhaps not surprising that The Incomer won the NEXT Innovator Award at the Sundance Film Festival, for it’s one of the best examples I’ve seen recently of a film that takes the audience by surprise with its zaniness without losing or even diluting the message it’s trying to convey. In a world in which we seem increasingly isolated, even as we’re seemingly more connected than ever before, it’s an important reminder that it’s as easy to be alone in a crowded office as it is on a remote island unless you actually commune with the people around you.

★★★☆☆