SCREEN | Touring the 'Islands' – A Sunshine Noir

"I'm not running away from anything."

Greenwich Entertainment / Vortex Media

Brit actors, Sam Riley and Stacy Martin, star in German director Jan-Ole Gerster's seductively sun-soaked, Hitchcockian tennis noir thriller, the appropriately titled Islands. Set on the eponymous Canary Islands, Riley's burned-out hotel resort tennis pro, Tom, gets entangled with a troubled English tourist couple's unhappy marriage to uneasy consequences.

Set against the scenic backdrop of the Spanish vacation archipelago, the permanently hungover Tom gravitates towards Martin and Jack Farthing's idyllic but flawed Anne and Dave, alongside their sweet young son, Anton (Dylan Torrell). Gerster's patient, unfolding direction makes it easier to invest in the holiday goings-on, while a mutual sexual attraction between certain characters moves forward. It's an inviting yet thrilling slow burn all-inclusive vacation drama that says more by doing less.

Islands luxuriates in its beach hangout vibes before it reveals more about its affluent but tricky European characters. There's an absorbing tension to its subtle thriller genre undertones as Tom tries to figure out what exactly is going on and how his casually debaucherous lifestyle fits into others' lives. As a misdirected mystery evolves, audiences are seduced by the possibly sordid outcomes before an appropriately clever yet satisfyingly pedestrian solution presents itself.

Islands screens at the VIFF Centre starting January 30th.


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