Iona

Stars: Ruth Negga, Ben Gallagher, Douglas Henshall, Tom Brooke, Michelle Duncan, Sorcha Groundsell

Director: Scott Graham

I don't think I've ever seen a film with so much excess footage as this one, even with such a comparatively short runtime. What plot there is, sufficient for about half an hour, focuses on Iona (Negga), a mixed-race woman returning to the Scottish island where she grew up, accompanied by her 15-year-old son, who has just killed her abusive husband.

She beds down, both literally and figuratively, with her foster-father (a dour Henshall possibly phoning in his role on a break from TV's estimable Shetland). The boy, Bull (Gallagher) is attracted by the 14-year-old daughter of Iona's foster-sister, even though the girl (Groundsell) is unable to walk, and carried everywhere on her father's back (are there no wheelchairs on this island?).

All this seems bound to end in tears, and so it does, through a slew of dull colour photography, mournful, meaningful exchanges, and individual shots always held about 20 seconds longer than necessary. It's (slow) torture.

David Quinlan

Scotland 2015. UK Distributor: Metrodome. Colour (unspecified).
85 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 20 Mar 2016