Islander (2006) Reviews

• Film as storytelling, like a yarn spun by an old Yankee salt

  ngstudio-12006-11-30

  I'm lucky enough to live in a coastal New Hampshire town with a fabulous film program which was lucky enough to score a one-night screening of The Islander. What a film. I knew going in that many of the cast were non-professionals, but I was darned if I could tell which were which. The storytelling was spare, honest and compelling, and everything about the production, right down to the spectacular cinematography of coastal Maine, was there to simply serve the story. The acting was minimalistic and restrained -- and moved me to tears more than once. I also had the luxury of listening to a Q&A with lead actor-writer-producer Tom Hildreth afterward -- what an inspiration he is. Serious, articulate, proud and humble, with wonderful stories about filming on Vinylhaven. This is indie film-making at its very best, and deserves to be seen by the widest audience possible. I know I'll be out there spreading the word...

• Live on the Island where the film was shot

  abarker202006-07-25

  I live and work in the community where this film was shot. I am a lobster fishermen and in some ways, an outsider, having returned to the island after several years living away. Islander does a wonderful job of capturing just what it is like to try to reinsert yourself into the community after being gone for so long, and a lot of the themes in the movie are very real in our day to day life. If you are not well liked, or if you do something that is deemed unacceptable, you AND your family will be harassed about it. You will have a hard time finding work. You will be looked down upon by your peers. However, you can redeem yourself, and that is the very essence of this movie. Trying to out your life back together in a place that has cast you aside. Now that I have covered the theme and how it relates to real life, I will cover the technical aspects. 1. If a fishermen has a dispute with people crossing the boundaries (marked by gps numbers and generally accepted by all surrounding communities) they will not publicly attack the outsiders. There will be several attempts to get them to leave peacefully. 2. Things are much more fast paced aboard a lobster boat. However, in the essence of trying to show what is going on, I am giving them creative license on this one, as it opens up this world to an unknowing audience. 3. (Potential Spoiler) Whether you are in a panic situation or not, any TRUE boat captain knows that you do not go from zero to full throttle right away, but rather you have to ease into it or it causes the engine to lag. 4. The way the lobster boat scenes are set up (As in gear placement and crew movement) does not match up with the real way we do it, however I believe this was done to allow the camera crew to capture as much as they could and give the actors some room to work with, so again, creative license. 5. If you aren't from Maine, please don't attempt the Maine accent. We appreciate the effort, but never in the history of film has an outsider ever got the accent right, and it would probably be better served to just use your natural voice. Of course, being, more or less, the real life equivalent of what this movie was trying to portray, I am probably just nit picking and most audiences would not know the difference and be amazed by this new lifestyle presented to them on screen. I thought the movie turned out quite well and would gladly go see it a few more times. If you get a chance, you should definitely check out Islander. It is one of those movies that exceeds all expectation.

• Great Movie

  scott42402007-12-31

  Watched this movie at Sedona Film Festival in March 2007. The movie did very well and won the people's choice award. Great story with very good storyline and character development. None of the flash from scene to scene to keep your attention tactics. Very well done movie with a great lesson in living life. The director provided a detailed account of the making of the film in a question and answer session after the viewing. He and a few others that worked with him on the film believe that they truly captured the essence of the island life in the film. If memory serves me correctly, there were numerous people in the movie that were actually residents of the island.

• Pulls you in; great visuals and sound track

  Carhart2006-06-28

  I just saw Islander at the LA Film Festival and liked it very much. It's a story about lobster fishermen living on a island 16 miles off the coast of Maine: their lives and their livelihood. The focus is on acceptance within this close-knit community. I found it surprisingly persuasive. The scenes on and about the island (off Rockport, Maine -- filmed on location) were stunning and the development of the key characters was quite well done. Expect to see this film in theaters soon, hopefully in distribution not confined to "art" theaters. This is a professional movie in every way and deserved to be seen. I suspect it will do well in the LA Film Festival and others.

• "Islander" is a neglected gem.

  stuartwhoward2008-12-31

  I was fortunate to see this film at a private screening in Los Angeles and liked it so much that I rushed to a repeat showing at the LA Film Festival. How a work of art of this caliber, evoking a corner of our country heretofore neglected by filmmakers, could have passed so far under the public and critical and distribution radar is a vexing mystery. "Islander" was, quite simply, one of the finest films I saw in 2006, a year that included "Pan's Labyrinth", "The Queen", and "Children of Men." I will even go so far as to assert that, to my personal taste, "Islander" is superior to that year's Oscar winner, the overrated "The Departed"! This is not because I prefer smaller, independent films to larger, slicker, more mainstream products: I don't, at least not habitually. It's just that "Islander" is so much more substantial emotionally, its characters more accessible and real, its concerns more familiar to most of us. Small in scope, yes. Lacking in box-office "name" clout, yes. A simple, intimate tale about ordinary people, yes. Nonetheless, this tale of transgression and redemption moved me deeply, convinced me, compelled me, impressed me. From every point of view -- story structure, acting, score, direction, you name it -- this film is well worth your time.