Picture Palace | Film
Oh Tom

Tom lives where others go on holiday. But the dream of tennis courts and club nights has long since faded—until a young family brings a splash of color into his life. In Islands, Jan-Ole Gerster crafts a subtle thriller about loneliness, responsibility, and escapism.

By Benedikt Maria Arnold

His name is Tom, but on the island, they just call him Ace. He once fired off ace after ace against tennis star Rafael Nadal. But it was only a training match, and it was a long time ago. Despite his brilliant serve, the professional tennis career never took off. And so Tom stayed on the island, giving tennis lessons day in, day out under the blazing sun at a hotel resort on Fuerteventura.

The Island Within

In Islands, the new film by Jan-Ole Gerster, another lost and lonely character takes center stage. After the aimless twenty-something in Oh Boy and the bitter mother in Lara, this time it’s Tom, played by Sam Riley. At night, he haunts the nearby Club Waikiki, drifts from one one-night stand to the next, and wakes up in strangers’ hotel beds. What felt like freedom just a few years ago now carries the bitter aftertaste of alcohol – which Tom discreetly hides in tennis ball cans. One day, a young family checks into the hotel. Tom gives tennis lessons to little Anton and gets to know the boy’s parents, Anne (Stacy Martin) and Dave Maguire (Jack Farthing). Together they take a trip across the island’s sparse desert landscape. Dave has pictures taken of himself with his family, then disappears into a cave, only to emerge laughing after giving the others a scare. A joke no one laughs at. Anne doesn’t even try to hide her irritation – she leaves Dave and Anton in the crashing surf while asking Tom to rub sunscreen on her back.

One night, Tom and Dave head out to Waikiki. The next morning, the young father has vanished. The local police are called, the search begins, but Anne remains strangely unaffected. As the investigation gets underway, roles begin to shift: the usually irresponsible Tom starts looking after eight-year-old Anton. They play tennis, run on the beach. And slowly, clues emerge suggesting Anton might not just be any child, but Tom’s. Was Anne a fleeting encounter from Tom’s past that he no longer remembers?

Where Does Tom Belong?

Islands is a film about searching. On the surface, it’s about the disappearance of Dave. But the characters – and we as viewers – are also searching: for looks and clues that might reveal something about their stories and origins. The film proves to be an unreliable narrator, playing with hints and suggestions without offering certainty. Everything remains suspended in a tense, mysterious blur with the undertone of a thriller.

Tom in particular is a character full of unanswered questions. In his eyes, we glimpse loneliness, melancholy, and a desire to escape. These unspoken questions come to a head in one scene when Anne confronts him, accusing him of being stuck on the island, secretly wanting something completely different. Tom denies it – and we as viewers are no longer sure: we don’t know where he’s from, what he wants, or what he longs for.

Gerster’s Lucid Puzzle

In Islands, Jan-Ole Gerster once again tells a story of someone who can’t seem to arrive anywhere. His emptiness and longing are reflected in the island’s vast, barren landscapes. Through faded visuals, he unfolds a gripping, atmospheric, and quietly mysterious thriller that – in typical Gerster fashion – raises big questions without answering them. And that’s exactly why it lingers so long afterward.