17/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: Jan-Ole Gerster’s new film is a well-crafted story about a man who lives borrowed lives

l-r: Dylan Torrell, Jack Farthing, Stacy Martin and Sam Riley in Islands

The Spanish island of Fuerteventura – where Jan-Ole Gerster’s Islands, premiered in Berlinale's Berlinale Special strand, takes place – has recently become one of those destinations where a person can go for an affordable holiday and just knock themselves out. Crazy partying, drinking, brief physical encounters, and much more besides. But what if such a lifestyle becomes permanent?

It’s not that Tom (Sam Riley) cares much about how he spends his time. During the day, he is a tennis coach at one of the hotels catering to middle-class tourists. After hours, he blends into their lives, borrowing their habits. One night, he might be at a wild local nightclub; the next, he’s sipping a beer with middle-aged husbands looking for space from their wives. Like a human chameleon, Tom adapts to the rhythms of the hotel guests – but without any deep feelings or an agenda. That is, until a British couple with a seven-year-old son arrives. The wife, Anne (Stacy Martin), behaves as if she and Tom have met before, although she never explains or addresses the situation. Then, one day, the husband, Dave (Jack Farthing), disappears, and as usual, Tom effortlessly blends into the lives of the guests.

For Gerster – directing his first English-language film and co-writing the script with Blaž Kutin and Lawrie Doran – Tom remains an enigma. Riley builds his performance through physical presence and subtle, unreadable gazes. He has the look of those effortlessly cool guys – shades on, baseball cap worn backwards – who haven’t yet noticed they’re no longer in their twenties. He doesn’t change or evolve; he is like an insect frozen in amber.

Yet, despite Tom’s static nature, the film’s two-hour running time flows naturally, gradually scattering pieces of his past with Anne and of Dave’s disappearance like breadcrumbs. The audience remains absorbed, both by the mystery and by the paradox of a man who has no real life of his own, yet remains strangely appealing. Unlike many films that suggest their protagonists are escaping dark pasts, Islands offers no such hints. Apart from a tension-filled score that creeps under the skin, the movie itself remains warm, sunny and largely surface-level. This leaves ample space for reflection: who is Tom, really? And is it truly possible to live a permanent vacation, detached from meaningful human connection? Aside from brief encounters with tourists, he has only a handful of local acquaintances, but none of these relationships seems particularly deep.

While Islands may not satisfy audiences looking for a more structured narrative or characters that change and evolve, it is a well-crafted film that proves Gerster’s directorial skill. His debut, Oh Boy [+see also:
trailer
interview: Jan Ole Gerster
film profile], already demonstrated his talent for telling low-key stories about characters that refuse to grow up. In his cinematic world, boys will be boys – and, perhaps, we should just let them.

Islands was produced by Germany’s augenschein Filmproduktion, and co-produced by Leonine Studios and Schiwago Film. Protagonist Pictures handles its world sales.