Endearing ‘Incomer’ Is Island Onto Itself

    The goings-on in Louis Paxton’s debut feature, “The Incomer,” are as absurd as they are charming, telling the tale of feral, island-bound siblings who’ve never had contact with the “real” world. Well, not until a mild-mannered chap from the home office arrives on their craggy, wind-swept shore bearing eviction papers.

    That would be Domhnall Gleeson’s Daniel, a nerd’s nerd dispatched under duress at the behest of his taciturn boss to “dehumanize” the archipelago. As a member of the UK’s land-recovery team, he only wants to make people happy, not uproot them, especially when they are as initially scary as Isla (Gayle Rankin) and her brother, Sandy (Grant O’Rourke), a burly manchild who looks like a refugee from the WWE.

    Almost as soon as Daniel sets foot on their remote Scottish isle, the “incomer” is hogtied and held captive, a prisoner of self-governed, gull-worshipping eccentrics inculcated with a peculiar set of laws and customs. And Paxton does them – and us – right by creating an engrossing backstory rooted in legend and myth, recounted to the uninitiated through crudely drawn animation sequences interspersed throughout the narrative.

    The gist is that many moons ago, the island’s settlers were lured to the mainland, with Isla and Sandy’s parents being the only holdouts. But not long after, their mother fled, leaving them to be raised by their abusive father, who passed 30 years ago after sacrificing himself to the sea. It’s some story, the kind of folktale Paxton clearly relishes and seeks to pay homage to with his own whimsical yarn in which he boldly swaps out selkies and kelpies for serpent-like “Fin Men,” who rule the waters surrounding an island that thousands of seabirds and two seemingly deranged people call home.

        Eventually, one of the earless Fin Men (John Hannah) rears its ugly head, attempting to entice Isla to join her father permanently in the tranquility of the ocean’s depths. You can see in Isla’s wild eyes that her life has become so hopelessly mundane that she’s tempted to accept the invitation. But Daniel’s unexpected arrival enkindles a fire in the siblings’ blood, especially when the desperate-to-survive stranger passes himself off as a “wizard” spinning adventurous stories of hobbits and elves. Transfixed, the pair free the faux raconteur from his bindings so he can more animatedly regale them with a bastardized, bureaucratic version of “The Lord of the Rings.”

     Predictably, the duo warm to Daniel and he to them, but Paxton throws a spanner in the works by creating an unconventional love triangle in which Isla and Sandy do the unthinkable and both fall for Daniel. The results are sweet as well as funny, especially when witnessed from the perspective of yet another intruder in Calum (Emun Elliott), a self-styled ninja in wait sent by Daniel’s suspicious boss, Roz (Michelle Gomez), after he fails to return from his island excursion.

     It all builds toward a wonderfully ridiculous third act that threatens to go fully off the rails but never does, largely because we’ve become so invested in these diverse, quirky characters who bizarrely complete each other. Their zaniness is contagious, and you become immersed in their primitive island life, often wondering whether Isla and Sandy have the right idea in cutting themselves off from a maddening world of cell phones, social media, and authoritarian politics. Daniel certainly does.

     And given his druthers, he’d stay with the twosome and their beloved gulls in perpetuity. But there comes a point when the fantasy collides head-on with the reality of a world where no one is truly alone anymore. The manner in which Paxton depicts this final showdown is sure to stir some debate and a wee bit of disappointment, as he backs himself – and his characters – into a corner. Yet, he still manages to send you home laughing louder than at any other point in his joyous movie.

     Paxton’s secret lies in his sly, perceptive musings on how we’ve become so entrenched in our creature comforts that we’ve lost almost all sense of adventure. At the same time, he leaves us thankful we’re not forced to dine on boiled seagull night after night. It’s an existential message that truly resonates when his film is at its strangest.

     The glue that holds everything together is Gleeson’s excellent turn as a scaredy-cat who learns through Isla and Sandy that he has his own unique strengths. Most notably, a powerful intelligence that outweighs his scrawny physique. He’s great, but without Rankin and O’Rourke to play off, he’d be, excuse the expression, alone on an island.

    Both are sublime deadpan comedians, unafraid to look ridiculous in their makeshift seagull costumes and cowls. You might even say a “beak” performance. And Elliott is right there with them, fully embracing the looniness of Calum slathering himself in black body paint to blend into the surroundings. Or, so he ludicrously chooses to believe.

    From start to glorious finish, “The Incomer” is the sort of classic British comedy that would make Monty Python proud. It’s about seclusion versus being lost in the madding crowd. And though it’s set on a mostly deserted, isolated island, what transpires on this rustic oasis is universal – the perfect antidote for the millions of jaded Daniels wishing to escape from the insanity of a “normal” life, but too attached to the hustle and bustle to dare venture from it. For 100 blissful minutes, Paxton presents the opportunity to kick back, lay down the “weapons of stone and bone,” and bask in the madness that is “The Incomer. Yes, it’s a little bit at sea, but I suspect you won’t mind atoll.

Movie review

The Incomer

Rated: R for brief graphic nudity

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin, Grant O’Rourke, Emun Elliott and Michelle Gomez

Director: Louis Paxton

Writer: Louis Paxton

Runtime: 102 minutes

Where: In theaters Sept. 25 (limited)

Grade: B+