Isle of Hope Review- A Film With Realistic Themes That Will Surely Resonate With Audiences

I’ve seen a lot of films where there is a child who has to look after an older member of the family, such as a father or in the case of The Isle of Hope, a mother. More often than not, it’s because that older member of the family is sick or dying. This film is no different from the rest in that regard. It’s a popular theme that has shown up in movies of late. A lot of writers and directors have used their own life stories and turned them into films. A lot of people can relate to these types of stories.

Victoria (Mary Stuart Masterson) is a professor of the arts at a college, and she is the mother of a teenager named Eleanor (Jessica Lyn Wallace). They are not getting along because Eleanor has a secret she’s not telling her mother. The woman is also separated from her daughter’s father even though he’s still in her life. She also has a mother, Carmen (Diane Ladd), who is ill and in the hospital. Needless to say, this woman has a lot on her table.

Masterson plays this role as if she’s truly this character with all the struggles a woman like this would be going through. She is genuinely frustrated by all of these issues that are giving her stress and anxiety.  Her mother is the main issue, and the relationship between the two is strained. She has such difficulty with her mother that she has to involve her brother William (Sam Roberts), who’s a psychiatrist. She tries to enlist his help because of his profession.  There is more to their mother than meets the eye, though. She doesn’t seem like herself from what the two siblings see.

Ladd is an acclaimed actress who has been in a lot of movies in her career. She plays a woman with an illness who is having problems with her memory. This causes issues for her family who are trying to deal with her. She has a lot of interactions with her daughter, played by Masterson. One particular conversation is quite dramatic and emotional.  Quite a bit of their past is brought and comes to a head. How the mother was overbearing and the daughter had a tough upbringing with an actress as a mother. She had a difficult childhood. 

This movie, named after the town in the film, hits home for a lot of people who will probably watch it. The performances from the stars are good, but there are a couple of supporting characters that add another element to the main plot as subplots. The daughter played by Jessica Lyn Wallace and the ex-husband played by Andrew McCarthy bring a different side to this story. They have their involvement in the overall story but separately bring another vibe to the film. They are good characters that make this a more rounded story overall.

Isle of Hope takes themes film audiences have seen more often than not lately in the film industry. Films about Alzheimer’s or dementia have become more prevalent lately.  These are things that have been happening to people more and more lately. The acting performances from Masterson and Ladd are good but the overall cast is very good. The story has some different levels to it with a twist I didn’t see coming. This was a film with a realistic story that I’m sure will hit home for a lot of people. The writer/director Damian Romay has made a film worth watching.

3 stars

Dan Skip Allen