REVIEW: ‘The Incomer’ Says It’s Okay To Be Weird

The Sundance Award-winning comedy, The Incomer, written and directed by Louis Paxton, is a modern folk fairy tale set on a remote Scottish island, where two siblings (Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke) survive by hunting seabirds, retelling stories of their ancestors, and defending the isle from dreaded Incomers. Their world is upended with the arrival of an awkward council worker (Domhnall Gleeson) who has come to uproot them from their homeland on behalf of the government. This movie is weird, peculiar, and silly. But that is its greatest strength.

The weirdness of just about every character in the film is what makes them so enjoyable. Isla and Sandy are about as weird as siblings who grew up on a remote island can be. They caw in the morning with the other seagulls, and they have bird costumes to intimidate any incomers that might find their way onto the island. Rankin and O’Rourke do an excellent job portraying siblings. Their chemistry is palpable; they fight, and I mean really fight, and they make up just as siblings do on and off every day. Isla is clearly the older one and takes care of Sandy to the best of her abilities, caring for him even when she’s mad at him. Daniel is just as weird as the island siblings, showing that the islanders and the incomer may have more in common than they think. When Daniel first arrives on the island, he thinks he, Sandy, and Isla could not be more different. They’re islanders, and he’s a mainlander. But the longer he stays on the island trying to get the siblings to leave, the more of an islander he becomes. The three of them bond over telling stories, their use of imagination, and how they don’t quite fit in with the rest of the crowd. Their growing friendship also speaks to the idea of assimilation. Sandy and especially Isla are heavily against leaving their home to the mainland to become mainlanders. The island is the only home they have ever known, and stories of their ancestors are all that is left of their island culture. They want to preserve that, and leaving would be the opposite of that. On the mainland, they would be forced to assimilate into society and act “normal”: no cawing, no wearing rags, or shouting at the sea. Isla and Sandy’s island is captured beautifully throughout the film, with gorgeous shots of the Scottish Highlands. It makes you understand why Isla and Sandy didn’t want to leave. But through Daniel, they get to share their weirdness and bond with him over it. It gives a glimpse of hope that maybe they won’t have to change themselves to feel accepted on the mainland, and that the right people will accept all of their quirks and listen to every story with open ears.

3.5 out of 5 stars

This film embraces its weirdness and awkwardness rather than shying away from it. The island siblings Isla and Sandy and the incomer Daniel are so endearing that watching them navigate their friendship and themselves keeps you locked in the entire time. It’s a heartfelt movie that will make you laugh, and maybe even cry too. The Incomer releases in theaters on September 25th.