THINGS YOU KILL, THE
(director/writer: Alireza Khatami; cinematographer: Bartosz Swiniarski; editors: Alireza Khatami, Selda Taskin; cast: Ekin Koç (Ali), Ercan Kesal (Hamit), Hazar Ergüclü (Hazar), Erkan Kolçak Köstendil (Reza), Serhal Nalbantoglu (Behri), Guliz Sirinyan (Sakine); Runtime: 113; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Cyriac Auriol, Alireza Khatami, Elisa Sepulveda-Ruddoff, Michael Solomon, Mariusz Wlodarski; Cineverse; 2025-Turkey-France-Poland-Canada-in Turkish with English subtitles)
“Not your usual mainstream thriller.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
This slow burn revenge psychological drama is written in Turkish to keep it out of the hands of Iranian censors (it was first written in Farsi). The Canada-based Iranian filmmaker Alireza Khatami (“Terrestrial Verses”/”Oblivion Verses”) makes it a brooding thriller whose story keeps getting weirder.
It’s set in an unnamed city in Turkey.
The thirty-something Ali Özdilek (Ekin Koç) is a part-time college language professor in the United States. He’s perturbed about several things: the use of the linguistic relationship between the word “translation” and its root meaning of “to kill,” that his veterinarian wife (Hazar Ergüclü) is upset she can’t conceive but doesn’t know it’s because of his low sperm count, and that his aging home-bound mom (Guliz Sirinyan) is treated like a servant by her abusive husband (Ercan Kesal).
When Ali’s mom mysteriously dies because of a head injury, he suspects her husband murdered her and returns to his hometown in Turkey to investigate.
Ali hires the outspoken drifter Reza (Erkan Kolçak Köstendil) who asks to be his gardener on a tract of land he keeps on the outskirts of town. How they hook up to deal with his estranged father becomes a pivotal part of the story.
The twisty film goes the David Lynch route, as it covers upsetting issues such as violence and patriarchal abuse. Though intriguing it can be confusing at times because of its sudden tonal shifts and will probably not reach a wide audience because it’s not your usual mainstream thriller.
It played at the Sundance Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 12/2/2025 GRADE: B-
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