ERKIN COç in THE THINGS YOU KILL Revenge tragedy is a dry puzzler Starring Hazar Ergüçlü, Ekin Koç, and Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, this strange, some think "Lynchian" film directed by the Iranian filmmaker Alireza Khatami, for political reasons was filmed in Turkey with a local cast.
The Things You Kill tells the story of Ali (Ekin Koç), an insecure university teacher with roiling emotions. His course in translation is likely to be cancelled. More than that or more intimately, Ali is shaken by the suspicious death of his ailing mother (Aysen Sümercan), and this leads him to spiral into a deep rage in a film that becomes an exploration of violence and suspicion in a family. In this film much admired at Sundance for its direction, hang on for a strange ride, if you will.
After struggling hard to have a baby, Ali has learned that he has a low sperm count, but he conceals this. He has a falling out with his wife Hazar (Hazar Ergüçlü), who is a vet dealing with cows., but she hangs on. During his grieving process for his mother, Ali's resentment toward his father Hamit (Ercan Kesa) resurfaces, along with an awareness that he was violent toward his mother. Ali forms a friendship with a mysterious man who turns up in his cabin out in the country and becomes his gardener, Reza (Erkan Kolçak Köstendil), a lookalike alter ego. Amid questions about rusty pipes and a "collapsed" well Ali must bribe an official in US dollars to replace, Ali devises a cold-blooded plan of revenge against the elder he has reason to believe is responsible for his mother's death. He persuades Reza to carry it out.
Ali's father disappears. He makes repeated trips back to his garden - a desolate place out in the country that reminds me of the Turkish director, Nuri Bilge Ceyla., with whom Ercan Kesal, who plays Hamit, is a regular collaborator. Long-buried family secrets are revealed, a history of violence. There is a magic realist finale.
Successive events come unexpectedly. Ali seems like a thoroughly unpleasant individual, and yet we don't entirely lose our sympathy toward him. He always remains the protagonist.
The Things You Kill is an interesting watch that keeps you guessing to the end, though it may never quite gain your confidence.
Reviews for
The Things You Kill are generally positive,favoring the film's confident technical craft and psychological depth, though some critics have found the film emotionally cold or overly reliant on stylistic imitation. It's been described as a psychological thriller and a layered, surreal drama about grief, revenge, and the pressures of masculinity and societal expectations. The reason for attributing a "Lynchian" style to Khatami, is its way of shifting between naturalistic drama and surreal, disorienting sequences.
Ali's secrets are very slowly revealed. Only toward the end he describes to a university official bent on making him redundant that he studied comparative literature in the US, doing so as an escape from a youth of being constantly teased and abused in Turkey. A character changes identity. On the other hand, in the latter half the film shifts into thriller mode, evoking James M. Cain or the Coen brothers, though the atmosphere makes that a little too surreal and playful to matter.
The play with reality, the artful framing of images, build confidence in Khatami's craft. But as Jordan Mintzer's
Hollywood Reporter review comments, while Khatami "has a lot to say" and this is an "intriguingly deconstructed viewing experience," the film remains "emotionally speaking. . . a bit stale."
The Things You Kill/Öldürdüğün Şeyler, 114 mins., premiered at Sundance Jan. 24, 2025 (Best Director in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition). Also Rotterdam, Hong Kong,. Istanbul, Taipei, and numerous other international festivals. US release Nov. `14, 2025.
The Things You Kill will be playing at iPic Fulton Market on Fulton St., NYC Nov. 14 and 15. Special Q&As with director Alireza Khatami follow 6:30pm showtimes on 11/14 & 11/15.
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