A wintry, clenched tale of domestic strife : The Killing of Two Lovers
Credit: Handout
Dir: Robert Machoian. Starring: Clayne Crawford, Sepideh Moafi, Chris Coy, Avery Pizzuto, Arri Graham, Jonah Graham, Ezra Graham, Bruce Graham. 15 cert, 84 min
As a title, The Killing of Two Lovers does some smart work on a punchy film’s behalf. It instils a percolating sense of dread, compounded by the opening: a cuckolded husband pointing a gun, in turn, at his wife and her new paramour, while they lie asleep in the bed that used to be his.
This taut, brooding drama set in a tiny Utah town – less a thriller than an anti-thriller – curtails many of its shots abruptly, and leaves us questioning what happened in the in-between. So when David (a simmering Clayne Crawford) is next seen climbing out of a ground-floor window and sprinting away in the half-light, we wonder whether he’s done the deed. The soundtrack is sparsely punctuated with percussive whooshes, suggesting gunshots that c
Vanity Fair magazine has a long article giving all the background. It’s worth checking out.
Meanwhile, we’ve got the Canadian Screen Awards coming up on Thursday. Also worth checking out to show you have some interest in Canadian films. By chance, you can see one of the nominees for free and read about it below.
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Written and Directed by Robert Machoian.
Starring Clayne Crawford, Sepideh Moafi, Chris Coy, Avery Pizzuto, Arri Graham, Ezra Graham, Jonah Graham, Bruce Graham, and Nicole Hawkins.
SYNOPSIS:
David desperately tries to keep his family of six together during a separation from his wife. They both agree to see other people but David struggles to grapple with his wife’s new relationship.
In what is sure to be one of the more distressing openings of the year,
The Killing of Two Lovers shows David (Clayne Crawford) standing over what we can only assume is his sleeping partner (Nikki) played by Sepideh Moafi) pointing a loaded gun at her. Naturally, a flood of questions simultaneously wash over the mind, but most of all, we want this woman to survive and for this lunatic to stand down and leave. Fortunately, some flushes from the bathroom interrupt things, and David, who is clearly conflicted about going through with the murder, is already having second thoughts. Thankfully, the ne