The Things You Kill, from writer-director Alireza Khatami, was Canada’s selection this past year for Best International Feature Oscar contention, and it’s not hard to see why. While it didn’t get one of the five final nomination slots in an admittedly stacked year for world cinema, The Things You Kill is still a revelation of a movie, a family drama and thriller that plays with audience expectations with a unique story structure and a lot of style.
The story concerns Ali (played by Ekin Koç), a married translation and linguistics professor in Turkey who has a lot going on in his life. He’s struggling to start a family with his wife. His job at the local university is likely to be cut next year. His large garden is dying. And his mother’s health is growing progressively worse, and his father, sister, and her caregivers don’t seem in a hurry to get her extra help. When mom dies unexpectedly and his father’s side of the story doesn’t add up, Ali suspects the worst and with the help of his newly hired gardener, sets into motion a plot of vengeance.
Earlier in the month, we had a chance speak with Khatami and discuss changes that had to be made to the story when the setting had to be changed from Iran to Türkiye, how words can have double meanings in the story, creating his script’s unique story structure, the important roles played by his female characters, and finally we dip into some spoiler territory by talking about how the visual style of the movie builds into the story’s big reveals.
The Things You Kill is now playing in select Canadian cinemas.
