Desire in the sun – but who gets burned?

Who doesn’t love a Greek island? You might think again after watching Suntan (18) HHHHH. There are no sharks in Argyris Papadimitropoulos’s masterly movie but it could have you wondering if you ever want to go to the beach again. The film opens in winter, with Kostis (Makis Papadimitriou), a paunchy fortysomething, on the ferry to Antiparos. He’s the island’s new GP. The summer brings hordes of tourists, most of them young, many of them beautiful. None is lovelier than Anna (Elli Tringou). Having come off her moped, Anna needs her thigh bandaging, a job that takes Kostis rather longer than it ought. Soon enough, Doctor Dull has become the oldest swinger in town. Papadimitropoulos dramatises the dreadful ache of midlife desire with terrifying precision. But he isn’t ridiculing Kostis, more asking you to pity him, showing how easily a life can fall apart. In less assured hands, Suntan’s ending could have been trite. It’s a tragedy that has you clutching your head in despair. Despair all over again with the insomnia-cure that is Sleepless (15) HH. The estranged son of undercover cop Jamie Foxx is kidnapped by the mob and held hostage in a Vegas casino. Cue an hour and a half of neon-lit shootouts in which it seems Jamie uses live ammo while the villains opt for blanks. Such inanity at least ensures Sleepless has more laughs than the Amy Schumer/Goldie Hawn comedy Snatched (15) H. Playing a foul-mouthed mother and daughter on holiday in Ecuador, they’re kidnapped by some local heavies and… But enough. I worship Goldie as much as the next guy but this is one ransom I’m not paying.