Sometimes, you find your true pack in the oddest of places. Domhnall Gleeson has played a lot of misfit characters in his career, but in fish-out-of-water comedy The Incomer, he plays a straight-arrow type looking to evict a couple of misfits out of the sacred home they’ve built for themselves away from the world.
The Incomer was part of the NEXT program at Sundance this year, which is when I attended the world premiere. Written and directed by Louis Paxton, it centers on siblings Isla and Sandy, played by GLOW actress Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke, who have spent their lives defending their island home from outsiders. Gleeson is the government stiff sent to evict them, only to find that their peculiar way of life might suit him, after all.
Also in the cast are Emun Elliott, Michelle Gomez, and John Hannah.
This was one of those Sundance gems that I sorta stumbled into without knowing a single thing about it. I was won over by its charm, its use of myth and nature to tell a hilarious story about human connection. It’s definitely worth checking out.
SYNOPSIS: Sundance Award winning comedy, The Incomer is a modern folk fairy tale set on a remote Scottish island, where two siblings survive by hunting seabirds, retelling the stories of their ancestors, and defending the isle from dreaded Incomers’. Their world is upended with the arrival of an awkward council worker who has come to uproot them from their homeland on behalf of the government.
Sumerian Pictures will release The Incomer on September 25th. You can check out my review here.
