Paradise Island

Directed by Kevin Paramananthan and Gowryshankar Mathankanna

2021

A film shot in the Midlands covers international issues far beyond the region but as important to the community affected as they have ever been in new regional short Paradise Island.

Last seen in True Love Comes Quietly we are introduced to Kuddy played by Varakunan Panchalingam who receives a message by phone saying immigration documents have been filed with an embassy.

What follows is a series of voice messages explaining how a lady is preparing to join Kuddy whilst saying goodbye to their family. She’s hoping to reunite with Kuddy in the UK and her serious statements by phone are contrasted with Kuddy’s optimistic dancing, showing his happiness as he’s about to soon welcome his loved one.

But things seem not to go smoothly. Kuddy’s initial excitement turns to concern as we see him on the couch watching the news. We discover that the lady leaving the messages is his future bride but the news describes of casualties in an atrocity far from Kuddy’s home.

And the voicemails begin to echo this with messages left about the army taking control, violence increasing and the safety of his fiancé’s plans.

An interesting structure, the film plays out in these voicemails throughout and is shot in black and white. Although some shots are a little too dark, the overall tone is captured well with the melancholy starkness of the monochrome visuals.

The film is in a Sri Lankan language with subtitles and this hugely adds to the authenticity of the piece too, giving it some realism to add to the terror unfolding.

As his fiancé’s messages ask him to remain calm, the terrifying situation soon escalates and some initial trepidation turns to serious worry.

Directors Kevin Paramananthan and Gowryshankar Mathankanna clearly want to shed light on political ideas that are personal to them and do a great job in ratcheting up the issue in the three minutes.

And kudos to the sound mix as well. The excellent balance of increasing noise to represent the war-torn situation only heard on the phone is skilfully handled on the technical side, but also packs a strong and upsetting emotional punch.

With a final cacophony of dread followed by an eerie silence, the short ends with a shocking moment to reflect. This leaves the film small in length but big on themes, whilst also packing a hard-hitting message in its brief runtime.

Paradise Island therefore begins as a heart-warming romance of love and ends in a heart-breaking tragedy of terror, delivering both touching moments and the shocking personal repercussions of wartime slaughter.

Michael Sales