Sam Riley plays a former tennis pro who teaches classes at a holiday resort in the Canary Islands in this slow-burning mystery.
Sam Riley finds himself caught up in a police investigation when he befriends a tourist family on the popular holiday destination of Fuertevertura.
In this sun-soaked, slow-burning mystery, Riley plays a former pro tennis player named Tom who now works as a tennis coach at a holiday resort on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.
He ends up with more than he bargained for when he becomes close with tourists Anne (Stacy Martin), Dave (Jack Farthing) and their son Anton (Dylan Torrell) and Dave disappears after a night out. Where is he? Is he dead? Was it an accident or deliberate?
In this Hitchcockian-style thriller, Martin’s Anne serves as the femme fatale figure. She keeps her cards close to her chest so you never really know what she’s thinking, and she has a very obvious desire for Tom, something which ramps up when her husband is out of the picture.
Tom, who is utterly miserable with his lonely existence on the island, is mesmerised by her and essentially becomes the husband and father in that family for a while. His co-workers keep asking why he’s so involved with the British family, and he doesn’t have a real answer.
Islands has a lot of the right ingredients – complex characters, intriguing mystery, terrific actors and a gorgeous location – but it fails them in the final stretch with the slow pace and the lack of answers.
There are a few hints about the characters’ history, and you expect these to be expanded upon later, but director Jan-Ole Gerster opts for ambiguity and never confirms or addresses anything in a satisfying way. You will come away with a lot of unanswered questions!
There is no faulting the performances, though. Riley is perfect for the unfulfilled Tom, who gets drunk most nights and wakes up in random places. Living full-time at a holiday destination sounds dreamy, but Tom proves that’s not the case.
Riley and the radiant Martin have a compelling dynamic filled with sexual tension, and Farthing is well cast as her awful husband.
Islands had the potential to be such a solid Patricia Highsmith-style thriller, but it’s too long, slow and vague for its own good.
In cinemas from Friday 12th September.
By Hannah Wales.
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