“They weren’t odd, they were very normal.”
If Americans have isolated Appalachian families, then Scotland has isolated island families. Louis Paxton’s The Incomer has an interesting premise and plenty of charm, even if it’s not enough to sustain a feature-length film.
The film centers on two siblings, Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke), living alone on a small island. Having been raised to protect the island from “incomers”, they dress up in homemade gull costumes, cawing as a war cry. The two spend their days hunting, fishing, and running militant drills with homemade clubs and axes. When Daniel (Domhnall Gleason) gets sent by the local council to evict them, they are forced to reckon with their past and future.
Daniel is a perfect audience surrogate, observing the siblings’ fights and quirks alongside us, unsure what to make of it all. Stripped of societal expectations, Daniel begins to see the value in their lifestyle, very much encouraging the audience to care less about what others might think and to find community wherever we can.
At the same time, Daniel is teaching Isla and Sandy that perhaps mainlanders aren’t as bad as their father wanted them to believe. Both siblings have a childlike innocence, and Rankin and O’Rourke do an excellent job of melding it with a hardened survivalist mentality. As Daniel starts to unwind their prejudices about mainlanders, the two siblings are forced to look at their family’s lore in a whole new light. Rankin, in particular, is able to convey Isla’s violent swirl of emotions and ideas, cleverly anthropomorphized through Mr. Fin-man, a sea creature played by John Hannah, who begs Isla to give herself to the water in surreal daydreams.
Director Louis Paxton has created a film that feels whimsical and doesn’t take itself too seriously. While its leads engage in plenty of self-examination, there’s always a joke or a moment of levity nearby. The litany of side characters, specifically Daniel’s boss, Roz (Michelle Gomez), and his grizzled colleague, Calum (Emun Elliott), feels like cartoon villains, in keeping with the film’s dedication to whimsy.
The premise of The Incomers is an immediate hook, but the film seems stumped in how to expand its hypothesis into a full-length feature. Once we cover Daniel learning about their isolated lifestyle, the film starts to drag and becomes predictable as it struggles to prolong the conflict between our islanders and the incomers. The film meanders and seems unsure how to neatly conclude the siblings’ story, eventually landing on something that feels predictable and safe.
While The Incomers is endearing, with a strong cast and beautiful locations, its story feels stretched and expected, leaving a fleeting impression rather than lasting meaning.
