Iona

Iona

Year: 2015

Runtime: 85 mins

Language: English

Director: Scott Graham

Drama

Fleeing a violent crime in Glasgow, Iona returns to her isolated island birthplace with her teenage son, Bull, seeking refuge. Her return forces Bull to confront a way of life she abandoned years ago and stirs up long-buried tensions within her family. The island’s close-knit community is disrupted as secrets and resentments resurface, challenging Iona's hope for a fresh start and forcing her to confront her past.

Iona (2015) – Spoiler-Free Movie Summary & Plot Overview

Get a spoiler-free look at Iona (2015) with a clear plot overview that covers the setting, main characters, and story premise—without revealing key twists or the ending. Perfect for deciding if this film is your next watch.

In the stark, wind‑swept landscape of a remote Scottish island, a mother and her teenage son arrive seeking sanctuary from a life that has become too heavy to bear. Iona carries the weight of a past she has long tried to leave behind, while Bull wrestles with the sudden shift from the noisy streets of Glasgow to the hush of stone cottages and endless horizons. Their arrival promises a fresh start, yet the island’s isolation amplifies every whispered doubt and unspoken hope.

The community that greets them is tightly woven around Celtic Christian traditions, where daily rituals and collective memory shape the rhythm of life. Within this close‑knit world, Iona reconnects with the man who once raised her, a stoic figure whose quiet strength has anchored the island for generations. His home also shelters his daughter, Elisabeth, whose own life has been tempered by loss and responsibility, and her family—Matthew and his paraplegic daughter Sarah—who embody both the resilience and the fragility of the place.

As mother and son settle into the island’s cadence, they find themselves navigating a web of old loyalties and hidden stories. Iona must balance the desire to protect her son with the pull of familiar faces and unresolved histories, while Bull is drawn into the community’s contemplative atmosphere, where questions of faith, belonging, and forgiveness linger in the sea‑salt air. The island’s serene surface hints at deeper currents, suggesting that the path to peace may be as winding as the ancient stone paths that link the homes together.

Through atmospheric visuals and a tone that blends quiet melancholy with a lingering sense of possibility, the film invites viewers to wonder how far one can run from the past, and whether returning to one’s roots can truly offer redemption or simply a new landscape for old shadows to play upon.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 16:56

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Explore Movie Threads

Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Island dramas with dark secrets like Iona

Hidden pasts return to haunt a remote, claustrophobic island community.If you liked the oppressive atmosphere and buried family history in Iona, discover more movies like it. This thread features similar dramas set in isolated communities where the return of a prodigal figure unravels dark secrets, creating intense, melancholic stories about guilt and the weight of home.

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Narrative Summary

Stories in this thread typically follow a protagonist forced to confront a painful past upon returning to a close-knit, geographically isolated community. The narrative unfolds as long-held secrets—involving crime, betrayal, or forbidden relationships—are slowly revealed, disrupting the fragile social order and leading to a cathartic, often tragic, confrontation with the truth.

Why These Movies?

These films are grouped together because they share a core narrative engine: the collision of a troubled past with a confined present. They create a specific, potent mood through their oppressive settings, heavy emotional weight, and focus on the destructive power of secrets within families and small communities.

Slow burn guilt dramas with bleak endings like Iona

A character's search for peace is crushed by the overwhelming weight of past sins.For viewers who appreciate the heavy, deliberate pacing and themes of unresolved guilt in Iona, this thread collects movies with a similar feel. Discover other intense character studies where a quest for redemption is thwarted by the past, leading to melancholic and psychologically heavy viewing experiences.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern follows a protagonist attempting to outrun the consequences of a grave mistake or crime. Their journey is not one of redemption but of escalating despair, as their environment and interactions relentlessly force them to confront their guilt. The story structure is linear but focused on internal psychological decay rather than external action.

Why These Movies?

These films are united by their shared emotional journey—a descent into despair fueled by guilt. They prioritize a slow, melancholic tone and high emotional intensity, creating a coherent viewing experience for those seeking profound, character-focused dramas about the psychological toll of past actions.

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Iona Summary

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Iona Summary

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Characters, Settings & Themes in Iona

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Characters, Settings & Themes in Iona

More About Iona

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