Jan-Ole Gerster’s tale of intrigue, separation, accusation and revelation is the perfect summer noir. Islands premiered in the Berlinale Special Gala.
John Donne famously wrote, ‘No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main’. One man who may disagree with Donne is Tom (Sam Riley). An ex-tennis pro, Tom has worked hard to become an island since he arrived years ago on the rugged coast of Fuerteventura. Everyone knows Tom, yet no one knows him. He is a legend on the island, his nights full of whiskey and dancing and casual sex, while his days are spent on the tennis courts of the resort hotel he calls home, a world away from the tennis career he should have had if his shoulder injury hadn’t led him to leave for Fuerteventura.
Tom knows that he is getting too old for the parties, booze and early morning starts, but at the same time, he is comfortable in his bubble, a bubble he has crafted over many years and one that is now near impossible to pop. However, everything is about to change as a new family arrives at the resort. Anne (Stacy Martin) wants her young son, Anton (Dylan Torrell), to expand his tennis skills and learn from the best during their break, approaching Tom directly rather than booking a slot. With a nagging feeling of familiarity with Anne invading his thoughts, Tom agrees to coach the young boy. However, when Tom meets Anne’s husband and Anton’s dad, Dave (Jack Farthing), it quickly becomes clear that this family isn’t sitting on a bed of roses, and as Tom grows closer to them, events are about to spin out of control as the turbulent waters of a marriage falling apart engulf him.
Resort hotels have always fascinated me as families, individuals, and couples with secrets, troubles, hopes, and dreams converge in a place designed to be everything to everyone: a bubble of isolation, luxury and fantasy often detached from everything but the scenery of its surroundings, where happiness frequently hides deep and turbulent undercurrents. Of course, I am not the only one fascinated by resort hotels as a microcosm of society; Mike White’s deliciously dark and knotty The White Lotus is a perfect example of everything mentioned above.
I mention The White Lotus for a reason, as director Jan-Ole Gerster’s Islands holds many similarities, particularly in its opening two acts. But unlike The White Lotus, where the lives, loves, and secrets of multiple families, staff, and locals mix to create a heady cocktail of intrigue, in Islands, the focus is on one family and one man as they enter into a dance of sexual tension, unspoken truths and fractured relationships. Here, from the first scene, Islands sun-soaked cinematography and beautiful vistas hide a knotty secret, and it is one Jan-Ole Gerster and his fellow writers Blaz Kutin and Lawrie Doran are happy for the audience to unravel at their own pace, without the need for a grand reveal.
Islands won’t resonate with everyone, especially those who prefer the twist in any tale to be made explicit and the emotional impact of that twist to be fully explored. But for those willing to ride the waves of Gerster’s tightly written and beautifully performed tale of intrigue, separation, accusation, revelation, and change, Islands is a perfect summer noir. To return to where I started this review with John Donne: No man (or woman) is an island, no matter how long they try to distance themselves from the footprints they create throughout their lives. While those footprints may disappear in the sand as the tide comes in, as Tom is about to discover, their impact remains and can’t be washed away.
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