Sundance 2026: The Incomer
4/5
A wonderful folk tale—funny, heartwarming, and charming. I found myself holding back tears while simultaneously giggling at the absurdity of it all. This is a tiny film with a huge heart, anchored by truly excellent performances from Domhnall Gleeson (our titular incomer, Daniel) and the two isolated island siblings Isla and Sandy, played by Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke.
The Incomer follows Sandy and Isla, the lone inhabitants of a remote Scottish island, petrified of the mainland and suddenly confronted with the very challenge they’ve been preparing for their entire lives: the arrival of Daniel, an incomer from the mainland.
Sandy and Isla are a classic sibling duo, illustrating just how different—and how alike—two people can be when raised by the same parents but shaped by vastly different childhood experiences. Rankin plays the overprotective older sister who has internalized the pressure to be the parent in their absence, while O’Rourke’s Sandy remains the innocent younger brother, still willing to play that role even as a grown adult, though increasingly aware that he may not be living the life he actually wants.
This tension, as expected, comes to a head once Daniel enters the mix, forcing them to confront what they truly want, what it might cost them to get it, and to question the fragile reality they’ve constructed for themselves—one that began from a place of love but has slowly hardened into fear.
The antagonists, brought to the island to finish the job Daniel so dutifully failed to carry out, are a welcome addition. They exude personality, even if they function largely as catalysts for Sandy, Isla, and Daniel’s growth. There is a sequence involving one of Daniel’s militaristic colleagues that plays almost exactly like dropping Dwight Schrute into this tableau, and it’s every bit as funny as you’d expect.
Ultimately, this film is about stories: how they help us make the hardest decisions in life, what a home truly is, and how refusing to grow inevitably means holding others back. The Incomer has no qualms about admitting how difficult life can be, but it faces that reality head-on, landing on a perfect ending that somehow still feels hopeful. Sometimes you need to lose everything you’ve ever known to gain something you never even realized you needed.