Film review: Islands

Set on the scorched island of Fuerteventura, mystery drama Islands marks the third feature from German writer and director Jan-Ole Gerster. The neo-noir plot follows washed-up tennis coach Tom (Sam Riley) who slipped through the net of turning professional, now working at a luxury resort. Spending his evenings raving in the local nightclub and his days nursing hangovers while showing tourists how to improve their forehand swing, his hedonistic lifestyle is interrupted when British couple Anne (Stacy Martin) and Dave (Jack Farthing) arrive and ask that he gives their young son Anton (Dylan Torrell) some private lessons.

The script, a collaborative effort from Gerster with screenwriters Lawrie Doran and Blaž Kutin, is an original piece but has the sticky intrigue of a Patricia Highsmith novel, enhanced by the film’s bleached aesthetic. There’s an instant allure to the protagonist, floppy-haired and charming but with an inner conflict that he self-medicates with swigs of vodka from his storage cupboard. When someone goes missing overnight, the central narrative takes shape; you might think you know where its headed, but the story has more dangerous twists than the landscape’s mountainous terrain.

Sam Riley is excellent in his role, effectively tapping into Tom’s deep-rooted flaws but keeping him likeable and interesting. Despite his reckless behaviour and shoddy timekeeping, he is popular in the area and has good relationships with colleagues, a couple that own a nearby farm, and even Jorge (Pep Ambròs), the straight-talking resident police chief. He also shares a compelling chemistry with Stacy Martin who brilliantly subverts femme fatale tropes with her unpredictable character. Some may recognise Jack Farthing from playing Prince Charles opposite Kristen Stewart’s Diana in arthouse flick Spencer, and he depicts another very difficult husband in this. Smarmy and sneering with upper-class passive aggression, he brings a dark streak of humour that cuts through the film’s often palpable suspense.

With his best turn since Control, leading actor Sam Riley delivers an ace of a performance that sees Tom’s escape to an idyllic paradise melt into a sweaty mess of secrets and lies. A superb English-language debut from Gerster, Islands is an irresistibly sizzling thriller that burns slowly in the intense Spanish sun.