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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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