Islands is a 2025 German-British crime drama thriller directed by Jan Ole Gerster, starring Sam Riley as a former professional tennis player who finds himself stranded in more ways than one on a sun-drenched holiday island, coaching hotel guests while his own life quietly unravels around him.
What is Islands about?
Tom was once a respected name on the professional tennis circuit. Now he fills his days at a resort hotel on a Mediterranean island, sending balls across a net to vacationing strangers who will forget him by checkout. The rhythm of his diminished life runs on routine and numbness — until an unexpected encounter with a particular tourist family cracks something open. What begins as a mundane holiday-season coincidence gradually pulls Tom into a situation that forces him to reckon with choices long deferred. Gerster keeps the tension low and slow, letting small gestures and glances do the heavy lifting as the island's picture-postcard surface gives way to something far more unsettling underneath.
About the cast
Sam Riley, best known for his magnetic screen presence in British and international productions, anchors the film as Tom, carrying the weight of a character who communicates as much through stillness as through words. Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing round out the central ensemble, while the multilingual supporting cast — including Agnes Lindström Bolmgren, Bruna Cusí, and Pep Ambròs — reflects the genuinely European texture of the story's island setting. Director Jan Ole Gerster previously earned international attention with Oh Boy.
Context & significance
For Persian-speaking viewers abroad who know what it means to rebuild identity far from home, Islands speaks in a language that cuts close. The figure of a once-prominent professional quietly diminished in a foreign place — coaching rather than competing, observing rather than participating — carries real emotional weight for diaspora audiences who have navigated reinvention in unfamiliar surroundings. The film's European crime-drama register is deliberate and unhurried, closer to literary fiction than action thriller. Islands is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so viewers can engage with the story in full comfort regardless of their language preference.
Watching Islands on Ktime
Islands is available on K-Time with Persian DUB and Persian subtitles. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, no extra download required. Start watching anytime and cancel anytime.