Sukkwan Island

Watched at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Director Vladimir de Fontenay crafts an intense and warm narrative about father and son that takes both emotional and claustrophobic atmospheres within the setting and tone. Presented with good camerawork and direction, the narrative offers a simple tale that has been done before, but what makes it unique is how Fontenay approaches the themes of the story and how enthralling the tone changes goes through. Blending both drama and survival themes together that is quite risky but engaging.

All of the performances are pretty great, there are some wonderful sound designs, and the characters are interesting. From the beginning to end, the exploration of these characters shift and change as it becomes both empathy, sad, and tense. The narrative does approach things with some risk decisions which may turn off many viewers but with the result, this was a fresh experience.

I had the pleasure of seeing this film today at its premiere at Sundance in Utah. I haven't read the book, though I will now. It's devastating, it's warm and it's emotional. The dark essence peeks through at times but doesn't fully emerge until the end. The chemistry between the two actors playing father and son was believable and brilliant. The camera grasped the claustrophobic nature of the cabin, and the unique beauty of the Norwegian landscapes were perfectly juxtaposed with the harsh, unrelenting apathy of nature. The story was enthralling and at times baffling, but the culmination really left me feeling exhausted.