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.