Island City is one of the best Hindi films in recent times. It is a very well-made, confident film that fearlessly eschews Bollywoodisms and just exists in its distinctive rhythm; never for a second, feeling the need to shock and impress the audience.

Barring a few glitches, the film is watchable, courtesy the cast that performs proficiently. …the real star of Island City is Ruchika Oberoi who proves that cinema is truly a director’s medium.

Oberoi shows enough promise of a better off-mainstream cinema that should emerge from her kind of storytelling.

It’s a film that has to be seen and must be seen by all of us.

What Island City achieves is far more important than where it trips up. As a tonally tricky, slyly subversive mood piece, it finds itself in a very small group of Hindi films. It’s also an intriguing new entry in the long tradition of films that explore the spiritual heartache of living in Mumbai.

All three stories have their strong points, but there are times when Oberoi cannot resist the temptation to spell everything out. That takes some of the edge off from what is otherwise a rare and honest portrait of the lives of urban dwellers.

On the technical side of filmmaking, Island City is just superlative. But fact is, this film is not meant for everyone. You need to have an appetite for Isaac Asimov kind of sci-fi coupled with a taste for fine cinema. Else you’ll find yourself a little lost in the detailed and very dystopian world of this film. It’s a real mind bender but also not for the average joe.

These overlapping stories about Mumbai city display a variety of emotions…

Island City is well paced, nuanced and to the point. Watch it for the sake of good cinema.

Overall, the film is a superficial entertainer that does not touch you emotionally.

Three stories, tenuously tied in a presentation that is so amateurish, you wonder why NFDC would back this film school type story-telling. Thankfully one story stands alone and puts a smile on your face. This should have been released on YouTube.

Watch it for some gritty stories narrated very realistically by all actors, especially the three leads.

The 111-minute movie has been beautifully shot by Sylvester Fonseca, set in vividly captured locations, and perfectly performed by its ensemble cast, but the screw-loose narrative needed some tightening to have been truly effective. Oberoi sometimes takes too long to set up and spell out obvious moments and scenes.

Writer-director Ruchika Oberoi’s Fedora prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival for Island City is well-deserved. Her approach to storytelling could be variously inspired by many, but she delivers on the style and format to make this a compelling watch.

Laced with sly wit and captivating storytelling feints, Island City touches heights that Hindi films do only once in a blue moon. It is absolutely unmissable.

All three stories are about authoritarianism, the individual rebellions against it and the happy and not-so-happy consequences of these unheralded, unknown mini mutinies. While this core idea is strong, the representation of it and the cinematic tonality is inconsistent, varying from tale to tale.

That big cities are empty and soul-less (and Mumbai, Oberoi’s location, is our biggest) is a familiar theme. Oberoi renews it with a couple of good ideas, but doesn’t manage to give us an underneath layer: you are left wanting more, more depth, something that goes beyond the obvious.
But there’s no doubt that Oberoi has an eye. I will be keen to see what she comes up with next.

While the execution is effective, the length of the stories may test your patience somewhere. We wish they were crisper. Overall, this one deserves to be watched for its riveting take on love, longing and loneliness.