A Turkish college professor in crisis exacts revenge after the mysterious death of his ailing mother in the trailer for The Things You Kill, which dropped on Wednesday ahead of a select release in U.S. theaters starting Nov. 14.
Iranian-Canadian director Alireza Khatami’s third feature was picked by Canada to contend in the best international feature category at the 98th Academy Awards. The Turkish and Farsi-language family drama sees Ali, played by Ekin Koç, convince his enigmatic gardener to avenge his mother after her death because his bullying father (Ercan Kesal) is revealed to have abused her during their marriage.
The trailer at one point has Ali in his late mother’s house investigating the circumstances of her death, and whether she accidentally fell to her death or was a victim of foul play. “I’m not afraid anymore,” a traumatized Ali declares amid quick-cutting scenes of turmoil at home and in his workplace.
The Hollywood Reporter film critic Jordan Mintzer wrote of The Things You Kill during its Sundance world premiere: “What starts off as a staid and naturalistic drama, about a man experiencing a midlife crisis following the death of his mother, veers into Buñuel or De Palma territory in the latter half. Identities are swapped, bodies are dropped and everything seems out of whack. That is, until Khatami tries to tie things together without much explanation.”
The drama, a co-production between Canada, France, Poland and Turkey, won the Directing Award in the World Cinema Dramatic competition in Sundance. The film also stars Erkan Kolçak Kostendil and Hazar Erguclu and is based on a screenplay by Khatami.
Khatami also produces the Oscar contender alongside Elisa Sepulveda-Ruddoff, Cyriac Auriol, Mariusz Włodarsk and Michael Solomon. Cineverse will release The Things You Kill in the U.S. market.
