The fact that “Isle of Hope” is opening in dozens of theaters across Florida Friday is already a victory of sorts for writer-director (and South Florida resident) Damian Romay. An interior drama about fractured families, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the specter of unsavory traits being passed down through generations, it’s the sort of project usually relegated, if that’s the best word anymore, to streaming services, not battling against the clangor and clutter of whatever tent-pole blockbuster is bleeding through the adjacent theater.
But its status as a cinematic experience for grown-ups is scarcely enough to redeem “Isle of Hope” from its glaring and persistent faults, which span from the writer’s room to the post-production suites. Mary Stuart Masterson plays Victoria, an unsuccessful playwright turned university drama professor who, in the few cliché-ridden scenes we observe at her work, seems just as ill-suited to her present job. For reasons that reveal themselves gradually, Victoria has a corrosive relationship with her mother Carmen (Diane Ladd), a retired actress of note. When Carmen suffers a stroke that strips some 15 years from her memory, an opportunity to rebuild their bond emerges; Victoria may even begin to rewire the fraying connections with her ex-husband Andrew (Andrew McCarthy) and their daughter Eleanor (Jessica Lynn Wallace).
Romay adapted “Isle of Hope” from a play by Argentine writer Oscar Martinez, so it’s charitable to suggest that whatever magic existed on the stage was lost in translation. It certainly doesn’t translate cinematically, where Romay’s static direction fails to lift the script into the third dimension, save for the occasional hackneyed cutaway—as when a collapsing Carmen causes a vase of flowers to break.
The script is a trite muddle of expository language and lead-footed plot developments enlivened by glimmers of promise—Victoria’s flashes of memory to Carmen’s vibrant younger self, before the troubles; a recurring gag about the rank breath of Carmen’s physician that works pretty well. But these moments only underline the anodyne and misguided nature of the rest of the project. When Carmen first presents signs of dementia, the jaunty score treats it like a joke, just another quirky elderly high jink. We’re supposed to believe that Victoria’s brother William (Sam Robards) is a professional therapist, but he behaves as no licensed psychologist ever would, breaking all sorts of doctor-patient confidentiality at the service of a tiresome bit of comic relief. Another character’s surprise pregnancy is treated as a tacky plot device and nothing more.
I never came close to shedding a tear over “Isle of Hope”—the clunky mechanics of its construction precluded any emotional immersion into the material. But at the risk of savaging what is essentially an earnest and well-meaning project, I needn’t go further. Suffice it to say that Ladd and Masterson are consummate professionals, investing their words with as much depth of feeling as they can muster. I hope it works better for you than it did for me.
“Isle of Hope” opens Friday, Feb. 23 at EVO Cinemas in Delray Beach, AMC Pompano Beach 18, Silverspot Coconut Creek and other area theaters.
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