The film also screens on Thursday, October 23 | 4 PM | BB
A wild, shape-shifting tale of how the quest for vengeance can fundamentally mar our humanity, Alireza Khatami’s The Things You Kill is a gritty, surprising, and thoroughly entertaining look at a man who traps himself in a cycle of violence. That man is Ali (Ekin Koc), a college professor who can’t stop thinking that maybe his estranged father had something to do with his mother’s death. Unwisely, he acts on that impulse, enlisting a gardener (Erkan Kolçak Köstendil) to assist him. In his third feature, Khatami (Terrestrial Voices) orchestrates a gradual descent, peeling back long-held secrets to reveal horrors both personal and cultural. Winner of the World Cinema Directing Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, The Things You Kill is a bold, confident story that uses thriller and horror conventions to disguise its social critique. Beautifully acted and set against often-empty landscapes, it’s a cinematic thrill ride. ~SM