FILM OF THE WEEK: The Incomer - Reviewed by Roe McDermott

A white man arriving on a distant shore, displacing the inhabitants and judging their native ways as primitive and savage has been the basis for nearly every of colonisation story throughout history. Or, in this case, a whimsical new comedy written and directed by Louis Paxton, and starring Domhnall Gleeson.

Gleeson plays Daniel, a slightly awkward and lonely land recovery co-ordinator for a local council, who is sent to a remote Scottish island to evict its only inhabitants, siblings Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke), who have lived alone there for 30 years. The siblings have never visited the mainland, living in their parents’ old house, cooking fish and seabirds for meals and engaging in elaborate rituals in order to scare off any visitors.

When Daniel arrives the siblings meet him dressed in home-made feather-clad regalia, cawing in unison as they threaten to cast him off the cliffs if he doesn’t leave their island. Daniel responds as anyone would when confronted with aggressive natives who have never interacted with modern life: by showing them his iPhone and claiming to be a Grand Wizard. After some lies, tournaments, Wicker Man-lite ceremonies and a few threats of death, Daniel starts to build a relationship with the siblings, realising that he might actually be as strange and lonely as they are.

Paxton’s screenplay is heavy on quirk, light on social commentary, leaning away from any deep social messaging and keeping the film squarely in the realm of crude whimsy, dark absurdity, and some sentimentality thrown in for good measure. Unapologetically weird, the siblings initial meeting with Daniel is tinged with some menace, as they seem very comfortable with the idea of ripping him limb from limb while dressed like they’re going to a rural aviary-themed Eyes Wide Shut party. The discordant music-box score twangs with some indie Deliverance vibes, but there’s a sweet innocence to the siblings who veer from seeing Daniel from a threat, to an idiot, to a source of wonder, to a friend.

As Isla, Gayle Rankin is excellent, at times steely and fiercely protective like a potentially lethal cult leader; at times girlish and innocent, like when hiding out in her secret Little Mermaid-esque shed, full of gadgets and gizmos aplenty from the mainland; and at times imbued with a bone deep sense of loneliness and melancholy that often leads her to the water’s edge, the threat of her jumping into the depths ever present in the air. This dark sense of isolation, depression and feeling out of place is echoes in the island’s folklore, shown in effective animated pencil sketches, where gull ancestors, selkie-esque creatures and the seas themselves become menacing forces, sometimes demanding sacrifice.

Like the film itself, Rankin’s performance has to walk a tonal tightrope, shifting gears between farce, quirk, character study and an unshakable humanity, and she does so with skill. As Sandy, Grant O’Rourke is wonderfully warm, an overgrown affectionate man-toddler who (sometimes huffily) obeys Isla and sometimes threatens to love things a tad too aggressively, a lá Lennie Small.

The dynamic between the two feels lived in, as they fight and repair like children, physically attacking and biting each other one moment, sharing treats and swapping stories the next.

Their innocence and ignorance of the outside world is of course played for laughs (one particular item that washes on shore enthrals Sandy, who remains unaware of its salacious purposes), but mainlanders don’t come across as geniuses either. Daniel might brag about he wonders of the internet, but ask him to explain how it works and he sounds like a blundering fool. And while Isla and Sandy can come with imaginative stories to keep each other entertained, Daniel has to plagiarise some very famous IP and pass it off as his own creation, implying that in all out modern conveniences, we’ve lost the art of imagination. And as Daniel explains the wonders they could experience on the mainland, like avocado toast and cinema trips, it quickly becomes apparent that despite all its modern convenience, his life still feels quite lonely.

Gleeson is in his element here, always having been drawn to strange comedy and playing the straight man well, bringing his own sense of likeable vulnerability to Daniel, who also feels like he’s looking for belonging – even if he’d prefer that to come without the sometimes sexual attention from both siblings, or the prospect of being hunted for sport. Between Star Wars, his brilliantly dark turn in The Patient, and roles in acclaimed films like Anna Karenina and Ex Machina, it’s wonderful to see hm not only return to quirky comedy, but to bring attention to Paxton, a debut director with a distinctive voice.

For a slice for a slice of weird, uplifting charm that highlights the importance of community and questions how normal are any of us, really, it’s a fun and entertaining watch.

In cinemas now. Written and directed by Louis Paxton. Edited by Brian Philip Davis. Cinematography by Pat Golan. Music by Tom Kingston. Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin, Grant O’Rourke. 102 mins.

• • Watch the trailer below:

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