Tom, a tennis pro washed up on a holiday island. Now he’s the coach at a hotel resort, hitting countless balls over the net to tourists. When he crosses paths with a particular tourist family, it seems he’s found an escape of his own.

I’ve not seen Sam Riley in too much lately but he’s picked an absolute cracker with ‘Islands’, a film directed by a German (Jan-Ole Gerster), with a British leading man (Sam Riley) and set on a Spanish island (Fuerteventura). Riley plays Tom, a former tennis pro drifting through life on Fuerteventura, now coaching tourists and drinking away regrets. When a British family arrives, led by the flirty Anne (Stacy Martin), alongside her husband Dave (Jack Farthing) and their son, he can’t help himself from inserting himself into their story with potentially dangerous consequences after Dave disappears. What follows is part mystery, part character study, all wrapped in a languid, magnetic atmosphere that recalls ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’.

Riley is superb, giving Tom a bruised charm that keeps you guessing where your sympathies should lie, and undoubtedly delivering his best performance in years. His chemistry sizzles with the equally excellent Stacy Martin, who keeps us guessing throughout – is she a stressed woman worried about her husband’s disappearance, a femme fatale, or something in between? The film thrives on suggestion rather than cheap twists, and I thought the way the plot unfolds was clever and engaging, and I was gripped from start to finish.

A word for director Jan-Ole Gerster as well, who isn’t someone I’ve came across before. His use of a camel from a local camel farm as a metaphor for Tom’s meandering and restless soul is subtly played, but it’s how he uses the island of Fuerteventura more broadly in the film that really shines through. The island exists as a character, with its relentless sun, scores of tourists passing through and anonymous encounters reflecting Tom’s own isolation and the tension bubbling beneath the surface. ‘Islands’ is an engrossing slow burn that simmers with tension, a summer noir that rewards patience with mood, mystery, and a brilliant payoff.

Rating: 5/5

Directed By: Jan-Ole Gerster

Starring: Sam Riley, Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt27796126/