The Incomer (2026)

Yesterday I was in my happy place: the local cinema, watching a low-budget, small-cast independent film. I formed part of a small audience sharing laughs at a black comedy.

The Incomer is the screen-writing and directorial debut for Louis Paxton. I’m assuming that, although it is a debut, Louis is well-connected within the industry. He managed to get Domhnall Gleeson and John Hannah in the cast and Trevor Noah and Moby are executive producers.

The film is set on a remote Scottish island where Isla (Gayle Rankin) and her brother, Sandy (Grant O’Rouke) are the sole inhabitants. They live a barren, but self-sufficient life with a certain anarchy that follows only one rule – “No Incomers.” However, Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson) has been sent by the local authority to evict them to the mythical realm of the mainland.

The film is full of excellent performances. Daniel is a twitching, socially anxious, easily-bullied introvert, painfully aware of his limitations and how others see him. Grant O’Rourke plays Sandy as a man in arrested development, eager like a puppy, both charmingly sweet and terrifyingly strong. Isla has a bold, forthright presence that takes over the screen, leaving the viewer on-edge, unsure of her next move as she oscillates between vulnerability and ferocity. Together, over the short time that the siblings hold Daniel hostage, they form an odd love-triangle.

The writing allows us to see the world through the eyes of the incomer and the insiders. Neither view is privileged. Both hold wisdom and stupidity. It is a dark, and for want of a better word, quirky world. Amidst the big heart and the good humour there is also something murky and unpredictable. Every so often the writing verges towards the twee, but then the rock-pelting and feral violence keep the viewer on their toes.

I’m also going to give a special mention to Michelle Gomez as Rose, Daniel’s unhinged Machiavellian boss. Gomez has built a career on edgy, sharp-witted, glamour and this is no exception. She scowls meanly while using the voice of a seductress to get her way.

However, there are faults with the film. John Hannah voices the mythical Finman. He sounds compelling and enchanting, as he tries to entice Isla into the sea. Unfortunately, the visuals don’t match. There is no getting away from the fact it is a man in a wet suit and a bog-eyed mask.

Also, some of the jokes don’t quite land. Enough do, that I shared proper laughs with the audience and there were also points where the landscape was put to good use in terms of being terrifying, high and desolate, so that we all cringed and breathed out together too. But yes, it did occasionally veer towards twee, or what my Granny would call ‘too daft to laugh at’.

There is also nothing original in the central message – that weirdness is more than fine and makes the world a better place.

But those complaints are nit-picking. I sat in a cinema and enjoyed laughs, action, desolate landscapes, the cawing of the birds (and humans), and felt happier at the end than I had at the beginning.

I was in my happy place.

I was not convinced that an island surrounded by the North Atlantic would ever be my happy place. Even less convinced that being an actor in a film that demanded I swim in the North Atlantic could ever be a paradise.  I am not one of those middle-aged women who has found liberation in cold-water swimming. I shivered at the thought. Nope, give me the cinema any day. That is my happy place.

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Rachel Robbins | Vocal