credit: Focus Features
directed and written by Louis Paxton; starring Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin, Grant O'Rourke, Emun Elliot, Michelle Gomez, John Hannah
Let's be honest with each other: we like really charming movies right? Movies that fill the heart and make watching flickering images on a screen worth the time. Movies that express a part of the human condition we thought we lost or that we had not felt in a long time. Art made pop culture.
Let's be even more honest: right now I'm feeling like hell. Got my COVID and flu booster a few days ago, and it feels like I got kicked by a horse down the steps of Sacre Coeur. Get your damn shots, but if you are an insomniac like me maybe take off an extra day or two because waking up every two hours leads to talking about the human condition while trying to write about a movie you liked.
Let's be super honest: I loved this movie in a very simple way. It's delightful and charming. My brain wants to say "quirky" but fuck that this movie is weird. The people are strange and for some reason I want to reference Egger's The Lighthouse. If there had been more booze with Isla and Sandy, they might have had that problem. They might have eaten Daniel.
I'm done.
Check it out.
Plot Summary
Siblings Isla and Sandy have lived alone on Orkney Island alone for 30 years and vowed to protect it with weapons of bone and stone from all incomers. Then a nerd named Daniel shows up to evict them, so they must decide whether to kill him or make him part of their tribe.
Characters
Daniel (Gleeson) - a fantasy nerd working as a bureaucrat evicting people from their homes
Isla (Rankin) - a lonely violent woman who likes to tell the island folklore her father told her
Sandy (O'Rourke) - a lonely violent man with a simple mind and love of gulls
Calum (Elliot) - a violent bureaucrat evicting people from their homes
Roz (Gomez) - an upwardly mobile bureaucrat in charge Daniel and Callum's office
Finman (Hannah) - a merman of the sea who visits Isla and looks a lot like her father and a seal
Setting
Orkney Island - home to gulls and Isla and Sandy
several abandoned structures
Sandy's secret spot where he yells the sea
Isla's shed where she collects things that wash up on the shore
Scottish Office
A bland row of desks where Roz reigns
Favorite Scenes
The opening scene illustrates Isla and Sandy's isolation and daily routine. They have turned protecting the island into their mission, with general uniforms and stories to back up the belief. Humans create meaning for their lives or else they go crazy. A person with a rich inner life could also be said to be crazy for believing the meaning for his life.
Animated segments have meaning near the end, but they are also good for showing the madness that lies in the tale as they illustrate the history of the island, as told by Isla, whose name sounds like "island."
Trial of the gulls that ends with Daniel riding the wind feels uplifting, har har har. The isolation of the siblings cause them to create a trial for Daniel before they will accept him. They have different ways than he, so they want to know if he will accept those ways as well. It also illustrates they are distrustful, needing a trial because part of them wishes he would fail and leave them to their madness. Their madness compels them to spread the madness, however.
The spiral into true madness starts when the outside world asserts itself. The siblings are odd and have a weirdness in their beliefs, threatening anyone who comes ashore, but those that arrive after Daniel are truly insane because of their meaninglessness. Roz, Callum, and the rest have no beliefs other than destruction and forcing their will upon others. When the others have bird costumes and weapons, the will being forced better be stronger than stone and bone. It is not, but bureaucracy is.
Discussion Questions
Have you ever had your home taken from you by the government? Is the purpose of the government to make people suffer without homes? Does that bring a fire in your heart?
What kind of weapon would you make of stone and bone?
If someone came to your home and your imaginary friend said to kill them, what would you do with the body? Do you think imaginary friends are better than real friends? Cite examples.
Talk about some silly ass family beliefs your family had when you were growing up. Did your father think turning the TV off wasted more power or did your mom take you to a place in the center of town and make you sing and read from a book about how an invisible man would set you on fire if you hit your sister? Remember the poop knife guy?
Tell about a time when you were at work and your boss made fun of your interests and you as a person. Would the invisible man set them on fire?
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