Islands
Tom (Sam Riley, "Control," "Widow Cliquot"), a middle-aged tennis coach at a resort on The Canary Islands' Fuerteventura, lives the carefree life of someone much younger, his frequent partying at odds with his 9 a.m. client bookings. So it is a bit of a mystery why he agrees to teach seven year-old Anton (Dylan Torrell) at that hour as well as going above and beyond doing favors for the child's dysfunctional parents. Then one of them disappears and the mystery deepens in "Islands."
Laura's Review: B
Cowriter (with Blaz Kutin & Lawrie Doran)/director Jan-Ole Gerster's ("A Coffee in Berlin") style and pacing is as languid as a lazy day at the beach, a perfect ploy for a story that sneaks up on you. There is a reason that Gerster spends so much time establishing Tom's island lifestyle, one which will be coveted by Anton's father Dave (Jack Farthing, "The Lost Daughter") even as he criticizes his wife's choice of vacation destination.
After spending his days on a sunny tennis court, Tom heads to a club where the lights strobe, the music is loud and the women abundant, often awakening in strange beds or wherever he passes out. Walking along the road one morning, Tom comes across Yala, one of the camels owned by Raik (Ahmed Boulane) and Amina (Fatima Adoum, "Irreversible") that's wondered off. He returns it to the older couple, clearly friends of his, who tell him that after years working with tourists to put their son through school, they are heading back to Morocco. Tom is clearly saddened by the news. The next day, local cop Jorge (Pep Ambròs) awakens him in his car on the side of the road, writing up a fine while also mentioning that his daughter wants to learn how to play tennis and a deal is made.
After checking in with hotel receptionist Maria (Bruna Cusí), who both covers for him and is exasperated by him, Tom heads to the court. A young blonde woman, Anne (Stacy Martin, "Nymphomaniac, Vol. 1," "The Testament of Ann Lee"), stops by and asks about lessons for her son. Tom tells her about the same kids' classes he'd promised Jorge earlier, but Anne says her husband is a bit of a tennis nut and she'd prefer private lessons, even offering to pay double when he tells her he is booked. Tom offers her a no-show couple's 9 a.m. slot at no extra charge. The next morning he's impressed with Anton's talent, taking the boy's racket and restringing it for him. When Anton shows up the next day with his dad, Dave complains about the room they've been given, so Tom wheedles Maria into getting them a better one and is invited out to dinner for his trouble.
We'll learn Anne used to be an actress and that Dave has been 'running her father's company into the ground.' Anyone would be uncomfortable in this couple's company, yet when Dave complains about the island, Tom says it's quite beautiful and offers to take them around the next day. Dave's behavior is odd bordering on inappropriate, but it's a relatively nice day spent exploring caves, going to the beach and getting a camel ride for Anton. Back at the hotel, Anne retires early and Dave pleads with Tom to take him to the Waikiki club, where he begins drinking and dancing with a local surfer. The next day Anne will call a hungover Tom, telling him that Dave is missing and soon the two are filing a report with Jorge's boss Mazo (Ramiro Blas), who finds everything suspicious. So do we, although one local's offhand comment begins to bring everything into focus.
Riley keeps us guessing, right up until the film reveals itself to be something else entirely from what we may have thought it was. It's a bit of a shock to see the man who once portrayed Joy Division's Ian Curtis looking weathered and middle-aged, but it's the perfect look for Tom, still handsome but showing wear. Martin is a bit of a blank slate, perhaps befitting an actress who appears to have an agenda, while Farthing, resembling a young Tim Roth, is unsettling. Boulane, Adoum, Cusí, Ambròs and Blas all add realistic island flavor, a loosely connected web comprising Tom's community.
Cinematographer Juan Sarmiento G. ("The Voice of Hind Rajab," "A Poet") keeps the island's beauty front and center, his subjects often dwarfed by miles of pristine beach, long snaking roads or a crush of club revelers. Dascha Dauenhauer's score utilizes wind instruments to create a contemplative mood with piano adding lightness, violins contributing tension as Gerster shifts tone. "Islands'" mystery lies within its characters' desires.
Robin's Review: B
Tom (Sam Riley) was once a promising tennis pro. Now, though, he teaches bored tourists at a resort on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. A new family visiting the island hires him to teach their son and, then, much more in “Islands.”
We meet Tom as he listlessly lobs countless tennis balls over the net to countless tourists wanting to “learn” to play the game. His life is a closed loop of teaching his clients, having sex with his femme customers and drinking way too much. Then, the Maguire family – Dave (Jack Farthing), Anne (Stacy Martin) and their young son, Anton (Dylan Torrell) – arrives.
There is something familiar to Tom about Anne but he cannot quite put his finger on it as he agrees to teach Anton. The lesson goes well and, when Dave joins them, he asks to play Tom. With this bond, the teacher agrees to show the family around the island. Then, he is invited to dinner.
As the evening progress, Anne bids Tom a good night. Dave, though, wants to party and insists that they go to the local hot spot, the Waikiki. There, he proves to be incredibly obnoxious and wanders away. Tom goes home to sleep it off. The next day, Anne tells him that Dave never came home. He appears to have just vanished.
This is where things get complicated, the police are brought in and it begins to look less and less like a simple missing person case. Now, helicopters begin to search and divers are even brought in to try to find a body. They do, but it is not Dave.
This is an at-arms-length character study by Sam Riley. His Tom was once an up-and-comer in the game but blew it. Now, he lives in “paradise” and is slowly wasting away both physically and mentally. The Maguires arrive and all that changes. He chalks up the familiar feeling about Anne to her once being a TV actress that he had seen and forgotten.
We have here a mystery on a couple of levels and director Jan-Ole Gerster weaves his layers well and keeps the mystery alive, at least one of them, through the film. Your job, if you choose to take it, is sort out the mysteries.
Greenwich Entertainment releases "Islands" in theaters on 1/30/26.
