Young Islands
It’s going to sound like a very loaded statement, but “Young Islands,” written and directed by Kevin Chenault, reminds me of the work of Terrence Malick. Thankfully, Chenault avoids the pretentious voiceover that makes Malick’s work as difficult to watch as it is beautiful to see. Where the director of “Badlands,” “The Thin Red Line,” and the recent “Tree of Life” comes to mind is in Chenault’s emphasis on images over dialogue to tell his story of a young man who is meandering through life.
The main character is Corey (Steven Hamilton), whose life is one of restless boredom: his parents are in the middle of separating after his father was caught cheating, and his best friend, Kenny (Joseph), is working at a grocery store for the summer, leaving him with nothing to do during his days. We see him interact with his family, whom he has no real emotion bond to, and with Kenny, but most of the time, Corey simply walks from place to place, not really interacting with anyone, keeping to himself. He’s only got a couple of weeks until school starts up, and appears to be lost in life, with no real purpose or ambitions.
If you insist that your films have “plots,” this film is not for you. “Young Islands” is a tone poem about walking through life with no compass to guide you, and no one you can really count on except yourself. At least that’s how I read it, and that’s how it affected me. I was reminded of times in my own life where life seemed more like a series of moments, going day after day without any real purpose or direction. It was a lonely time, but it also allowed for plenty of reflection, and looking back on it now, it was an important time of my life to go through, as it prepared me for later times when I could look back and see how I got through tough times or lonely times and realized, “Hey, I can do this.” This is a film that has something to say, and Chenault’s film, shot in black-and-white and featuring musical selections that fit the mood and malaise of the film perfectly, is too artfully done to be easily forgotten.
