ISLANDS

Islands succeeds on the talented performances of Sam Riley, Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing who bring to life the complex relationships between their character that fuel the film’s central ideas, helping to turn this social thriller into a mesmerizing watch set against the natural wonder of the Canary Islands even if the Hitchcockian elements of the screenplay never fully come together.

With the success of HBO’s The White Lotus, there has been a renewed interest in the wealthy’s treatment of the working class, especially in the vacation setting, and that is what co-writer and director Jan-Ole Gerster and his co-writers Blaž Kutin and Lawrie Doran explore in Islands. When we first meet Tom, he is enjoying his bachelor lifestyle, partying at night on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura while acting as a tennis coach for a hotel during the day, teaching half-interested tourists the game. But all that changes when he is approached by Anne to teach her young son Anton, as Tom is slowly drawn into the family’s vacation. With an insincere friendliness as they look to enhance their vacation experience, Anne and Dave welcome Tom to join their family on their vacation, using him as their personal tour guide and sharing meals and drinks with him.

It’s all underscored by an undeniable romantic chemistry between Tom and Anne, with its forbidden nature and the repulsiveness of Dave only heightening the pull between them, as Gerster, Kutin and Doran lay the groundwork for their social exploration. Set against the stunning vistas of Fuerteventura itself, which cinematographer Juan C. Sarmiento Grisales captures the natural beauty of with ease, the dreamlike world of the film becomes an all absorbing escape that not only lures Tom but the audience into the danger lurking just beneath this picture perfect setting, even if this first act slightly overstays its welcome before getting to the instigating event that truly kicks the story into motion.

After its long first act, Gerster provides the narrative hook of Islands: the disappearance of Dave. Has he simply disappeared, off with a woman who is not his wife? Did he slip into the water and drown? Or did something more sinister happen to him? Set against the film’s bright and beautiful yet barren landscape, reflecting the picture perfect facade at the centre of the film’s story, Gerster teases at something more sinister beneath the surface as each reveal has both the audience and Tom questioning what they have found themselves in the middle of. Paranoia begins to rise, while the social commentary that Gerster, Kutin and Doran developed in the first act is intertwined as Tom is at Anne’s side throughout the whole ordeal. Anne's use of Tom only becomes more apparent as the film’s second act plays out, as you see the shift in the romantic entanglement between them develop into Tom being her caretaker for her and her son in light of her husband’s disappearance, distancing the apparent friendship they had in the film’s first act with each decision she makes.

Though sadly, the thriller Gerster, Kutin and Doran build in their screenplay never reaches the Hitchcockian heights that it had the potential to. While there is a constant tease of something more sinister at play with Dave’s disappearance, the story does not push far enough into the more dangerous territory it had the potential for, preventing the film from becoming the shocking, first rate thriller that audiences love to talk about after the credits have rolled. While this restraint is intentional, instead allowing the focus to remain on the social commentary and bringing it full circle with some incredibly powerful scenes in the film’s rather quick final act, there was a way for Gerster to accomplish both his social commentary while not short selling the thriller element of the story. But, with the great conclusion of Tom’s arc of self-realization over that fateful week on Fuerteventura and the gripping tension of the middle act ensure that Islands never for a second fails to entice viewers, even if it never becomes the viewing experience they are hoping it to be.

At the centre of the film is Sam Riley as Tom, and he delivers an excellent performance. With an earnestness and scarpiness, Riley easily becomes this aimless young man without any ambition or drive, merely enjoying his bachelor lifestyle. But as Tom is pulled into Anne and Dave’s family, Riley grows Tom as he is forced to not only care for Anne and her son Anton in the wake of Dave’s disappearance, but also come to terms with what he has been settling with for years as a tennis coach to the wealthy individuals who visit the resort he works at. It is in this growth where Riley excels in his performance, finding an honesty in Tom’s journey of self-discovery and development in of his own self-worth, which delivers the payoff of the story in the third act in spades.

With the most complex role of the film, Stacy Martin gives a great performance as Anne that allows the film’s story to work on every front. From the second she first meets Riley’s Tom, there is a natural chemistry between her and Tom, even if it originates from Anne’s position of power over Tom and Tom seeing an individual he can help save in this young mother with marital problems. Martin plays it subtly, slowly leading Tom along as she sees an escape from her husband and humdrum life in this tennis pro, while underpinning her performance with a self-centered indifference for anyone other than herself which only becomes more apparent as the film progresses. Jack Farthing is perfectly obnoxious as Dave, making it less upsetting once his character disappears and providing a convincing reason why someone would want to get rid of him, especially after the uncomfortably appalling moments between him and Martin’s Anne.

While the thriller genre is more likely to feature stories that cannot fully deliver on their setup, an inherent risk if the central twist falls short of expectations, Jan-Ole Gerster ensures that the success of Islands does not solely rely on the reveal of what happened to Dave. Blending a thriller narrative with a social commentary about class and wealth, Jan-Ole Gerster offers more than just a twist in his story that helps satisfy viewers with everything that unfolds in Islands as it has a strong character study within it… even if the thriller’s twist isn’t as Hitchcockian as audiences will want it to be. With the strong performances of Sam Riley and Stacy Martin guiding the entire film, Islands not only offers up a sun soaked thriller with lots of tension (albeit one whose conclusion leaves something to be desired) but an examination of the upper class’s treatment of the working class that delivers an enticing narrative exploration.