‘Islands’ Review: There’s Trouble In Paradise In Jan-Ole Gerster’s Slow-Burn Drama – Berlin Film Festival
Tennis pro Tom lives in a mellow paradise teaching tourists at a hotel in the Canary Islands. “Permanent sun, permanent fun,” as one client puts it. But why does it also look a bit like Groundhog Day: every day, Tom gets up, coaches people on hitting the ball, visits his friend who has a farm or maybe goes to a nightclub, and the next morning wakes up in someone else’s bed, hung over again. The Canary Islands is not a circle of hell, granted, but he’s getting close to circling the drain.