May 5, 2026
FILM: THE THINGS YOU KILL
DIRECTED BY: ALIREZA KHATAMI
STARRING: EKIN KOC, ERCAN KESAL, HAZAR ERGUCLU
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
I was drawn to this film because I think Iranian-born Alireza Khatami is a very original and provocative filmmaker. I ranked his last work, Terrestrial Verses, as one of the top films of 2023. Khatami played with form in that one with a series of vignettes which call attention to some of Iran’s highly questionable policies. His latest, The Things You Kill, is a film shot in Turkey with funding from Canada and Poland. It was submitted by the former for the Best International Film Oscar this past year and is very original, haunting, and perplexing to watch.
At first it appears that Khatami might be returning to a style use in the previous film with a long extended take featuring two characters, Ali and Hazar, speaking about a dream the latter has had about his father. Why this would be significant for her only gets revealed as we meet the man, Hamit, who essentially entraps his invalid wife in her home. When she dies, it becomes clear that he is an angry, abusive person who Ali has distanced himself from. Ali has plenty of other problems of his own as it is. His job as an adjunct professor at a university seems to be drying up and his low sperm count is something he can’t seem to reveal to Hazar, who really wants to have a child. He also has a large garden on a mountainside which is suffering due to a lack of water.
The first hour or so of the film feels like a fairly slow-moving family drama. Then Ali hires a man named Reza to work on the garden. This leads to a scene which seems to come out of the blue in which they enact a cold-blooded crime. Khatami has said in interviews that he wanted to pull the rug out from under the audience and that he definitely does. We are caught off guard by the scene which then leads a very curious change in actors playing each other’s roles. What’s interesting about this is that the “new” Ali is rougher around the edges. He’s not as handsome as the “old” Ali. His interactions with family members become more argumentative, especially in regards to the sudden disappearance of Hamit. It’s pretty disorienting to say the least.
However, “old” Ali isn’t gone for good and when he does come back there is a sense of a return to the more quiet, reflective, and even sexual version of the man. So, essentially we’re getting two sides of the character played by different actors who bring out elements which suggest that the verbal and perhaps physical abuse he endured at the hands of Hamit has been ingrained within him. It rears its ugly head when conditions prove too much.
This is just one of several metaphors in the film. “Old” Ali has a loud, dangerous looking German Shepherd as a pet which is often kept chained in a small dog house outside near the garden. When “new” Ali shows up, “old” Ali is seen chained in the same spot and the dog is nowhere to be found. Is Ali being punished for what he did? Is it symbolic that his calmer side has been imprisoned? Does he feel guilty for what he’s done and is punishing himself?
Another recurring motif is water, which is at first lacking but then plentiful once Ali has come to terms with what he has done. Can he wash away his guilt and sins? There’s a terrific shot of Hamit’s car being pulled out of a lake. Has he been “found?” Has he returned?
Ali also reveals a dark secret about his past which suggests the degree to which he has feared his father. It’s worth noting that the film’s writer/director’s name is split between “Ali” and “Reza” – the two characters who commit the crime. Khatami has said that there are some autobiographical elements in the film and things he doesn’t want his own family to know. Perhaps The Things You Kill is his attempt to deal with and exorcise the guilt and shame he might be feeling for darker times in his own past.
Some have called this a “Lynchian” psychodrama as it plays with the traditional norms of character representations and metaphorical ideas on screen. This may be a way to enter into the film should you decide to see it. The film may be worth more than one watch to pick up more of its subtle and not so subtle messages.
The Things You Kill is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
FILM: THE THINGS YOU KILL
DIRECTED BY: ALIREZA KHATAMI
STARRING: EKIN KOC, ERCAN KESAL, HAZAR ERGUCLU
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
I was drawn to this film because I think Iranian-born Alireza Khatami is a very original and provocative filmmaker. I ranked his last work, Terrestrial Verses, as one of the top films of 2023. Khatami played with form in that one with a series of vignettes which call attention to some of Iran’s highly questionable policies. His latest, The Things You Kill, is a film shot in Turkey with funding from Canada and Poland. It was submitted by the former for the Best International Film Oscar this past year and is very original, haunting, and perplexing to watch.
At first it appears that Khatami might be returning to a style use in the previous film with a long extended take featuring two characters, Ali and Hazar, speaking about a dream the latter has had about his father. Why this would be significant for her only gets revealed as we meet the man, Hamit, who essentially entraps his invalid wife in her home. When she dies, it becomes clear that he is an angry, abusive person who Ali has distanced himself from. Ali has plenty of other problems of his own as it is. His job as an adjunct professor at a university seems to be drying up and his low sperm count is something he can’t seem to reveal to Hazar, who really wants to have a child. He also has a large garden on a mountainside which is suffering due to a lack of water.
The first hour or so of the film feels like a fairly slow-moving family drama. Then Ali hires a man named Reza to work on the garden. This leads to a scene which seems to come out of the blue in which they enact a cold-blooded crime. Khatami has said in interviews that he wanted to pull the rug out from under the audience and that he definitely does. We are caught off guard by the scene which then leads a very curious change in actors playing each other’s roles. What’s interesting about this is that the “new” Ali is rougher around the edges. He’s not as handsome as the “old” Ali. His interactions with family members become more argumentative, especially in regards to the sudden disappearance of Hamit. It’s pretty disorienting to say the least.
However, “old” Ali isn’t gone for good and when he does come back there is a sense of a return to the more quiet, reflective, and even sexual version of the man. So, essentially we’re getting two sides of the character played by different actors who bring out elements which suggest that the verbal and perhaps physical abuse he endured at the hands of Hamit has been ingrained within him. It rears its ugly head when conditions prove too much.
This is just one of several metaphors in the film. “Old” Ali has a loud, dangerous looking German Shepherd as a pet which is often kept chained in a small dog house outside near the garden. When “new” Ali shows up, “old” Ali is seen chained in the same spot and the dog is nowhere to be found. Is Ali being punished for what he did? Is it symbolic that his calmer side has been imprisoned? Does he feel guilty for what he’s done and is punishing himself?
Another recurring motif is water, which is at first lacking but then plentiful once Ali has come to terms with what he has done. Can he wash away his guilt and sins? There’s a terrific shot of Hamit’s car being pulled out of a lake. Has he been “found?” Has he returned?
Ali also reveals a dark secret about his past which suggests the degree to which he has feared his father. It’s worth noting that the film’s writer/director’s name is split between “Ali” and “Reza” – the two characters who commit the crime. Khatami has said that there are some autobiographical elements in the film and things he doesn’t want his own family to know. Perhaps The Things You Kill is his attempt to deal with and exorcise the guilt and shame he might be feeling for darker times in his own past.
Some have called this a “Lynchian” psychodrama as it plays with the traditional norms of character representations and metaphorical ideas on screen. This may be a way to enter into the film should you decide to see it. The film may be worth more than one watch to pick up more of its subtle and not so subtle messages.
The Things You Kill is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.