I don’t tend to watch a lot of movies, but when I do, typically I’m either sitting in a movie theater watching superheroes beat the crap out of each other with my dad or I’m making fun of laughably bad movies with a few friends over popcorn. Rarely do I ever find myself watching a movie on my own, and rarely do I branch out beyond what I think will be safe to enjoy.

Island, then, a movie made entirely by Joel Haver, a young comedian whose career of making short comedy films on Youtube has taken off recently, was something outside of my comfort zone, an extremely low-budget film only available on YouTube and not meant as a means of humor. Upon stumbling across the film thanks to the strange wonder that is YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, I decided, for lack of anything else to do, to give it a shot. At first, I was a little taken aback by the film, but soon found myself engrossed in Haver’s little creation.Island opens with an obviously low budget set, with cardboard and projector screens making up for the titular island that Haver’s unnamed character finds himself on. It’s hard to ignore the strange lighting effects and bizarre sound design that create the world of Island at first, but as the film progresses and Haver begins to establish his own character as well as a few other minor characters in the first half of the film, those strange lighting effects and bizarre sound design lend themselves nicely to creating a world that feels almost bittersweet, even if it’s not entirely clear why beyond the idea that Haver’s character is stuck on the island. Granted, the other minor characters who show up in the first half of the film feel somewhat redundant; the “dudefish” for example, is a character that feels like he should have more impact in the final half of the film, but once he disappears, his meaningfulness goes with him, and he is rendered almost obsolete. It’s hard to say whether or not, then, the first half of the film is entirely needed, as the transition into the second half, where Haver’s character finds himself washed up in the real world and the cheap set is replaced with real locations and real people, is almost intriguing enough to watch on its own, as Haver creates small scenes of interaction between himself and strangers that, viewed separately, can contain their own little stories of humanity. Still, when the film reaches its end, it’s almost enough to look at both halves and understand that while they are not perfect, they have both been climbing toward the final scene, perhaps not explicitly for the audience, but definitely personally for Haver. While some might see that as a waste of their time, to be led into something that feels so insignificant for themselves and the hour runtime that composes Island, for the right people, reaching that end will be extraordinarily satisfying, as the film finds its real purpose in showing the small slices that create a whole. Island is far from a perfect movie in many ways, but as a testament to what can be achieved both on the surface and more emotionally on a small budget by one person, it is worth a gander.