Jan-Ole Gerster is a house number in German cinema-even though he only implemented two films as a director. His debut, Oh Boy, was already turning into one of the largest German cinema surprises in the past decade and is now one of the Berlin films par excellence in the history books. Then he brought the drama Lara to the big screen. Now film number three follows.
The beautiful beaches of Fuerteventura serve as the backdrop of Icelands, which celebrates its premiere at the Berlinale 2025. As “Vacation-Noir” Described Gerster the film at the press conference and thus hits the mark: Islands is one Exciting vacation thrillerwho is ahead of his Netflix competition at one point: he knows exactly how he can effectively use his backdrop.
Crime thriller in paradise: According to Icelands, you think about the Fuerteventura vacation again
Icelands begins with the pictures of a barren desert that works as if we had landed somewhere at the end of the world. A breathtaking place of primeval beauty that merges into a volcanic landscape. People don’t feel the quake yet, but the animals – especially a restless dromedary – are already sensing the catastrophe. For the time being, however, we find ourselves in an idyllic holiday resort.
Here Tom (Sam Riley) gives tennis lessons every day – to his dismay from nine in the morning. Destroyed by nights that he Participation in the neon lights Spends from Touri Clubs, he drags himself to the tennis court. A vicious circle that he follows. It was only when Anne (Stacy Martin) knocks on the door of his bleak “office” that something lively sparkles in his eyes.
Anne wants to know whether he can still give lessons for her son Anton (Dylan Torrell). You can already see how Tom cramped inside. However, he cannot resist Anne, so he even offers the hated premium square at nine o’clock. The first hour runs so well that Anne directly bays the second. Instead of the mother, however, Anton’s father appears this time: Dave (Jack Farthing).
There is tension in the air, not least it seems to be very obvious what kind of history Gerster wants to tell in his first English -language film. Contrary to all expectations, Dave does not turn out to be the suspicious husband who becomes a threat. Rather, he turns into the big question mark of the film: after a visit to the club together, he disappears without a trace.
Icelands looks much better than most Netflix thrillers and creates a feel for the environment
That almost sounds like the premise of a new HARLAN Coben series on Netflix, but could also be the 2nd season of a new summer or another vacation-gone wrong film à la the Weekend Away. While the police initiate their investigations and every figure is suspected in the manageable ensemble, Gerster quickly makes it clear that it is not only The plot and interest its resolution.
Where most Netflix crime novels are just characters and plot in boring pictures that have nothing to say because all events about dialogue are explained to death, Gerster searches for pictures that are remembered and create a sense of the environment. The tightness of the resort, the vastness of the beaches and somewhere in between the tennis court with all its possibilities.
Tom has decided not to use a single one. For him, paradise has become a prison in which he gave up more or less voluntarily. But how can it be that someone in this dreamlike place does not lead a fulfilling life? Grader contrasts the beauty of paradise with the broken ambitions of his protagonist before he conjures up the dark thriller.
For a moment it looks like you could just let yourself go in this supposedly carefree place. Exactly enjoy the all-inclusive vacation that Anne and Co. want so urgently. However, Gerster mixes an atmosphere that moves the film into the territory of a Hitchcock thriller and reminds of psycho-games like the talented Mr. Ripley, which sunbathe in uncertainty.
After his bereapple of Berlin, Jan-Ole Gerster with Icelands shows himself from a completely new side
At the press conference, Gerster named two other committees, the style of which can be seen in his film: Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas) and Michelangelo Antonioni (Zabriskie Point). Above all, the influence of the second can definitely be seen in individual pictures when Sam Riley and Stacy Martin are filmed on a rock on the beach and that Grades between the characters becomes visible.
Martin stands against the background of the sea. Your figure is just as tangible at this moment as the movements of the waves, as worrying and calming. Riley builds up in front of the shallow blue of the sky and tries to decipher his counterpart. Something atmospheric that is told about the visual level and a clever cut is in vain at Netflix.
Icelands is also an interesting step with regard to Gerster’s work. After Oh Boy and Lara, it could have happened without any problems that he was only thinking about the rest of his life. But there is a great urge to genre in Icelands, which leads grain to unusual places. After this erotically charged crime thriller full of abysses, you can be excited to see where it is going to the next.
We saw Icelands as part of the Berlinale 2025. On May 8, 2025, the film starts regularly in German cinemas.