Islands

                 Sam Riley               

Jan Ole Gerster's Islands is a slow burn mystery set at a resort in the Canary Islands. Sam Riley plays Tom, a tennis instructor at the resort. Tom is an over aged tennis bum who responds to his utter boredom with his job by going out and getting blitzed every night. His depressive cycle is broken by the arrival of Anne (Stacy Martin) and Dave (Jack Farthing), two fellow Brits with a seven year old would be tennis prodigy in tow named Anton. Anne and Dave, both seemingly bored and entitled, soon monopolize Tom's time. He is wary of the duo, though attracted to Anne (who is vaguely familiar to Tom), but manages to be a good mentor to Anton. However, Dave's disappearance after a night of revelry throws Tom's life into turmoil.

This is a sturdy premise for a film and can go in a number of directions. The hangdog Tom, well sketched by a taciturn Riley, could be a patsy for a femme fatale or the mystery could remain unresolved as in L'Avventura. Gerster opts to go with the shaggy dog story option and, thus, the slow burn fizzles. The answer to the "real" mystery is obvious to the viewer by the midway point, though it remains beyond the dim Tom. Gerster is able to conjure the tenuous nature of relationships at a resort destination, but doesn't give his characters enough dimensions for the viewer to care. Stacy Martin is a cipher instead of a sphinx as Anne, but Farthing is quite good as the sleazy Dave.