Island (2011)

7 August 2013

Island (2011)

• Director: Elizabeth Mitchell, Brek Taylor
• Based on novel by Jane Rogers
• Cast: Natalie Press, Colin Morgan, Janet McTeer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Natalie Press – Red Road, My Summer of Love
• Colin Morgan  – Merlin Seasons 1-5, The Tempest at the Globe, London
•  Janet McTeer – As You Like It, Velvet Goldmine, The Woman in Black
•  Why? Colin Morgan
• Seen: August 6, 2013. (And November 24, 2013. See below).

A haunting film about three haunted people. Nikki has grown up in abusive foster homes, an outcast for as long as she can remember. She goes to the island to confront her birth mother.

The island, off the coast of Scotland, is harsh, not quite real.  The woman – the mother – is dying of cancer. The son, Calum, is a prisoner of his mother’s obsessive care, of the island, and of his own dream world.

Thefilm wavers between dream and nightmare. The slow very deliberate pace builds into an almost unbearable suspense.

We know there is tragedy coming.  We hope there is also some hope.

We know that Colin Morgan’s acting can wrench the heart. It does here.

The whole film does.

  

5 * of 5

PS Seen again with Hal November 24, 2013.  Knowing what to expect makes it even grimmer and sadder.  I do catch things I didn’t catch the first time though unfortunately the DVD doesn’t have subtitles either. Colin Morgan is brilliant at dialects, but this dialect is a bit too Gaelic for my unschooled ears and I miss some of what he says this time too. Nevertheless he, and the film, wrench the heart. Again.