Cultural Mining

Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

It’s present day in Turkey. Ali is a successful young man with everything going his way. He’s a US-educated professor at an Ankara university, a beautiful wife who wants to start a family, and their own home on a large plot of land. But his job is precarious, his sperm rate is low, and his home is in the middle of a desert with not enough water for his garden. And then there’s his parents: Ali is convinced his father is beating his mom, and when she dies in a fall, he suspects she was murdered. So when a drifter appears on his doorstep, he wonders if this strange man could solve all his problems: both as a field hand and someone to help him murder his dad. 

The Things You Kill is a new psychological thriller that explores family secrets, rivalries, and government corruption. The film deals with suspicion, vengeance and intergenerational trauma, while playing fantastical games with the audience’s psyche and sense of reality. It’s written and directed by award-winning, Toronto-based filmmaker and academic Alireza Khatami. His first film, Oblivion Verses, won the Orizzonti and FIPRESCI prizes at Venice. This, his third feature, won the Best Director Award at Sundance and was Canada’s entry for Best International Film at this year’s Oscars.

I spoke to Alireza in Toronto via ZOOM on March 18th.

The Things You Kill opens in Toronto on March 20th.