Islands
Jan-Ole Gerster's minimalistic crime ‘thriller’ stars Sam Riley as a former tennis pro washed up in Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands.
Stacy Martin
Image courtesy of BFI.
Ahead of viewing Islands I had heard it described as a thriller, a view which was supported by the publicity for it in which it was actually called "a tense thriller". To be fair, I had also noted that Variety had pointed to other elements in it which linked it to the work of Antonioni. But, even so, I was not ready for a film which would keep me waiting for some forty-eight minutes before an event occurred which would then mark the start of a police investigation on the island of Fuerteventura which is the setting for this tale. The comparison with Antonioni did suggest that this film might echo his 1960 masterpiece L’Avventura by changing direction (that work famously set up the mystery of a woman’s disappearance during a Mediterranean boating trip and then turned instead into a study of the relationship growing between two people searching for her). When it comes to thrillers one recalls how Hitchcock in his remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) delayed bringing in the thriller element until late on in a substantial introductory section set in Morocco, but Islands is far more extreme than that: not only does it hold back on any thriller element for longer but it adopts a style that is decidedly minimalistic.
Although the Canary Islands rarely feature as a film location, just recently we had Signs of Life which was set on Lanzarote and which from the outset created an involving situation which was suited to being treated throughout in a minimalist mode. Given the very late turn to thriller elements found in Islands it is best to approach it as a somewhat comparable work. In that way one can ponder at length the lifestyle of Tom (Sam Riley) who has lived on Fuerteventura for some years making a living as a tennis coach in one of the island’s tourist hotels. He is a loner who drinks too much, goes regularly to a club known as the Waikiki and can turn to drugs and to female visitors who are looking for sex to meet his other needs. Somehow Tom has persuaded himself that this is a tolerable way to live despite its limitations and its corrosive effect on his better qualities.
In passing we meet others living there: a couple from Casablanca who run a camel farm (Ahmed Boulane and Fatima Adoum), the hotel receptionist María (Bruna Cusí) and the friendly local policeman Jorge (Pep Ambròs). However, if the chief focus is on Tom, it is also spotlights three British visitors who arrive at the hotel, namely Anne (Stacy Martin), her husband Dave (Jack Farthing) and their seven-year-old boy Anton (Dylan Torrell). Anne approaches Tom seeking tennis lessons for Anton and then when it turns out that the visitors have been given a really bad room Tom assists in getting it changed. In return the couple invite Tom to join them for dinner at a local restaurant and he subsequently becomes their guide for a day of sightseeing. Earlier we have noted looks which could suggest that Anne and Tom have met before and occasional comments might support that, but nothing clear is said.
Since so much time is devoted to what may seem inconsequential and which certainly lacks any of the drama awaited by those who expect Islands to live up to being a thriller, I feel that it would be wrong to reveal here what happens in the second half of the film despite the fact that many critics have revealed it in order to have a plot to describe. It’s better for the tale if it comes out of the blue. Suffice it to say that there is an occurrence which brings in a police inspector (Ramiro Blas) to lead a thorough inquiry. Although these later stages are not without a certain tension – and the odd surprise too – Islands, which is in any case overextended at 121 minutes, at times reverts to its more minimalist style rather than becoming a standard thriller. This involves a degree of subtlety which may appeal to some more than to others but it did lead me to find here elements reminiscent of a film which had very many admirers, that being Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun (2022).
Appealingly shot in widescreen by Juan Sarmiento G. Islands is ably directed by Jan-Ole Gerster on whose original story the screenplay is based and it is more than competently played especially by its two leads. Stacy Martin's performance as Anne is admirably judged with the actress perfectly attuned to the ambiguous shades required. As for Sam Riley he is absolutely screen centre here and creates a fully rounded character. Back in 2007 he made a strong impression in Control, playing the role of Ian Curtis of Joy Division, but for the most part his subsequent career has been less striking than was then anticipated. Here, however, he reaffirms his strong talent and could not be better. Given such fine performances it is a shame that Islands does not work better. The failure has nothing to do with the players but resides in the screenplay’s uneasy mix of minimalist material and police procedural mystery tale. The clash was off-putting enough to prevent me being drawn in sufficiently to feel for the characters despite the high quality of the acting. But had I possessed a clearer idea of the nature of the piece in advance I might have found it easier to adjust.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Sam Riley, Stacy Martin, Jack Farthing, Dylan Torell, Ramiro Blas, Pep Ambròs, Ahmed Boulane, Fatima Adoum, Bruna Cusí, Agnes Lindström Bolmgren, Iker Lastra, Fernando Navas, Maya Unger.
Dir Jan-Ole Gerster, Pro Jonas Katzentein and Maximilian Leo, Screenplay Jan-Ole Gerster, Blaž Kutin and Lawrie Doran, from a story by Jan-Ole Gerster, Ph Juan Sarmiento G., Pro Des Cora Pratz, Ed Matthew Newman and Antje Zynga, Music Dascha Dauenhaver, Costumes Christian Rohrs.
Augenschein Filmproduktion/Leonine Studio/Schiwago Film-BFI.
120 mins. Germany/USA/UK. 2025. UK Rel: 13 September 2025. Cert. 15.
