Every so often, watching an overly tidy, ultimately sentimental indie drama that pretends to be “real” but isn’t, I’ll peer through the movie and catch a glimpse of the better, more honest, less diagrammed drama it might have been. “Islands” gave me the opposite experience. It is indeed a good movie, and quite an honest one, yet its setup is so ripe for cut corners and heartwarming chintz that I was almost surprised to see it sidestep the diagram I was expecting. I bet other viewers will have the same reaction. Written and directed by Martin Edralin, “Islands” is a feel-good movie that, in an odd way, doesn’t try to make us feel too good. That’s why there’s a little bit of art to it.
The central character, Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas), is a middle-aged Filipino-Canadian man who lives with his aging parents. Each day he...
The central character, Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas), is a middle-aged Filipino-Canadian man who lives with his aging parents. Each day he...
- 3/25/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
South By Southwest Film Festival 2021 Awards Winners — The Fallout, I’m Fine, Islands, and winners of the 2021 South By Southwest Film Festival Jury and Special Awards has been announced. The 28th Annual South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival Jury and Special awards are audience-voted awards given out during “South by [...]
Continue reading: South By Southwest Film Festival 2021 Awards Winners: The Fallout, I’M Fine, Islands, & More...
Continue reading: South By Southwest Film Festival 2021 Awards Winners: The Fallout, I’M Fine, Islands, & More...
- 3/23/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Early in Martin Edralin’s stubbornly pensive and endearingly fragile directorial debut Islands, the painfully shy middle-aged loner Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas) spends yet another day in his childhood home helping his parents with the laundry, when a sudden spill down the stairs leaves him and his father (Esteban Comilang) alone without a matron. Forced to reconcile with […]
The post ‘Islands’ Review: Rogelio Balagtas Shines in an Engrossing Drama [SXSW 2021] appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Islands’ Review: Rogelio Balagtas Shines in an Engrossing Drama [SXSW 2021] appeared first on /Film.
- 3/22/2021
- by Kalyn Corrigan
- Slash Film
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