In ISLANDS, director Jan-Ole Gerster builds a quiet but steadily unsettling character study around people who appear to be living in paradise, yet remain fundamentally stranded. Set at a luxury island resort, the film follows Tom, a tennis coach played by Sam Riley, whose carefully arranged routine is disrupted when a family enters his orbit — and later, when the father disappears.
While Riley’s performance anchors the film with restraint and internal erosion, much of ISLANDS’ volatility comes from Jack Farthing’s turn as Dave, the husband whose presence destabilizes every scene he enters. Dave is unpredictable, brittle, and performative — a man exerting energy to convince others, and himself, that everything is fine. Farthing’s portrayal of Dave is one of the film’s most indelible performances, grounding the film’s tension in something painfully real.
“The script was beautiful and full and rich and mysterious,” Jack told LATF, noting that it was “so obviously character-led, as opposed to plot-driven,” an approach that made the role especially appealing.
Dave, as Farthing plays him, is not a villain in the traditional sense. Instead, he is deeply familiar — “so many struggling, vulnerable men I’ve come across in my life,” Farthing explains. “Desperately trying to be something that they’re not, and trying to pretend that everything’s okay when it’s not.” The result is a portrait that feels painfully human, complicated, and quietly dangerous.
That naturalism extends to Farthing’s approach to performance. When asked about improvisation, he pushes back on the idea that dramatic improv is a separate skill at all. “If you’ve done the work,” he says, “improvisation isn’t really a thing. You’re there, you’re listening, you know how the character is feeling.” That sense of presence is evident throughout ISLANDS, where moments feel lived-in rather than manufactured.
Beyond the film, Farthing’s reflections echo ISLANDS’ larger themes of disconnection and escape. He notes that he is not on social media and never has been, a choice that aligns with the film’s skepticism toward curated versions of happiness. Acting, he suggests, is its own form of escape — “a chance to walk through a different door” — though one that can make returning to ordinary life strangely difficult.
On the subject of AI and the future of art, Farthing is clear-eyed but hopeful. While acknowledging that AI-generated work will have a place, he believes audiences will always seek out human-made art. “I think that’s why people want art,” he says. “Because it’s been made by another human being.” That human connection, he insists, is what he intends to protect.
In ISLANDS, that philosophy is evident in the performances. The film resists easy answers or neat resolutions, instead allowing its characters to sit in discomfort and ambiguity.
In theaters January 30th.
DIRECTED BY Jan-Ole Gerster
WRITTEN BY Jan-Ole Gerster, Blaž Kutin, Lawrie Doran
PRODUCED BY Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo, Associate Producer, and Katrin Kreppel
CAST Sam Riley (Maleficent), Stacy Martin (The Brutalist), Jack Farthing (Spencer), and Fatima Adoum (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
Run Time: 121 minutes
