Devil's Island

Set in the relic of a wartime U.S. army barracks near Reykjavik in the '50s, Devil's Island covers the lives of its quirky, low-rent inhabitants--including, principally, a mother who leaves her family to accompany an American pilot to the states, her married daughter, two adult sons, a grandchild, plus a profane grandmother who blathers about ghosts. The rest of the townsfolk are mainly drunken male louts and their hapless wives and kids. When the extroverted son returns from visiting his transplanted mom newly intoxicated with emerging rock music culture--sporting an Elvis-like hairstyle, black leather jacket, sunglasses, and a big-finned red car--he starts to shake, rattle and roll things up in the complacent village. Although the film has a few comic moments, there is more of a sense of contrived whimsy to the proceedings. Very optional. (T. Rich)