Alireza Khatami attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of “The Things You Kill” at The Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Donyale West/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Sandy Phan
When Ana Souza, programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, tells the audience that The Things You Kill is “an unflinching piece of cinema. It’s unafraid to dig up and look into the eyes of systems of oppression … and it gets under your skin,” you take a moment to consider this. When the writer-director, award-winning Iranian American Alireza Khatami, says, “Fasten your seatbelt. It’s going to be a bumpy night,” you need to take the warning.
In the introduction before the world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Khatami shares, “This film is a piece of my heart. It’s broken and dark.” Although you’re not certain what will happen, there is a sense of foreboding and uncertainty that makes you lean forward in anticipation.
In The Things You Kill, Khatami creates an unforgettable psychological drama about Ali (Ekin Koç), a university professor whose life is busy with his marriage, caring for his mom (Güliz Şirinyan), his teaching job, and his garden. However, when his mom unexpectedly dies, Ali questions the circumstances around her death and finds answers about his abusive father that he doesn’t want to acknowledge. The level and intensity are staggering to him.
(L-R) Hazar Ergüçlü, Alireza Khatami, and Ekin Koç attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of “The Things You Kill” at The Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Donyale West/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
Set in a beautiful landscape of Turkey, the film delves into the generational cycle of abuse in this family and the acceptance — and sometimes disregard — that long-held, deep-seated secrets are kept. The film is purposely devoid of music and close camera shots of actors with the intention of creating detachment, deprivation, and loneliness. In some scenes, the camera loses focus on the main character for long periods. All of these cinematic elements create the darkness and stark reality within Ali’s character as he begins to unravel and try to control his environment. Acclaimed Turkish actors Koç, Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü, and Ercan Kesal effortlessly embody the complexities of their characters, allowing you to sink into the story and feel a part of it.
Khatami acknowledges that this film is a personal and emotional part of him. “It’s mostly a true story,” he admits. He wanted to make a film that allowed him to embrace his own demons and explained that the late David Lynch “shaped his understanding of what cinema could be and taught him how to embrace his darkness.”
During the post-premiere Q&A, Khatami shares that for a long time, he’s been thinking about making a film that leaves a lasting and uncomfortable impression. With The Things You Kill, it’s impossible not to absorb the characters and feel them under your skin after the credits roll.
