"The Killing Of Two Lovers" -- Movie Review

 

This week at the long-belated New Directors/New Films Festival, there was a streaming of “The Killing Of Two Lovers”.

Synopsis

When a married couple grapples with their separation, how will the husband deal with learning that his wife now has a boyfriend?

Story

This is a difficult and stressful time for both David and Nikki (Clayne Crawford and Sepideh Moafi), a long-time married couple who have now agreed to a separation.  High school sweethearts who got married upon graduation, they now find themselves with four children:  a teenage daughter and three small sons.  After all of these years together, they now question whether they made the right decision.  David has now moved out and lives with his father; Nikki remains in their home with the children. 

What is particularly bothersome for David is that Nikki now has a new boyfriend – Derek (Chris Coy).  Their children know about this and are understandably confused – they miss their dad and wish he was still living with them.  Despite dedicating himself to being a good father, dealing with this new reality has driven him to ideations of murdering both Derek and Nikki out of anger, jealousy and all-around frustration.  Towards this end, David has decided to purchase a handgun, which he periodically practices shooting – at one point, taking a mannequin to an open field and imagining himself murdering someone at close range. 

David and Nikki agree to schedule date nights every so often, but these get togethers inevitably get ruined when Nikki is distracted by either worries about their children or interruptions of text messages or calls from Derek just when she and David start to rekindle romantic expressions for each other.  One Saturday when David is scheduled to have time with the children, he winds up having an argument with Nikki.  It is at this point that Derek insinuates himself into the situation and when he and David are alone, they have a physical confrontation.  When David finds the gun in his truck, will he finally get his revenge?

Review

This is a tough movie to describe – which is not necessarily a bad thing.  Is it a mystery?  Or is it a family drama?  A crime drama?  At various points, “The Killing Of Two Lovers” feels like all three.  Perhaps the best way to describe it is to say that it is something of a blue-collar version of “Marriage Story”.  However you choose to describe it, the film is quite an extraordinary experience.  From moment to moment, you never quite know exactly where you’re going in this story.  That’s what keeps you going from one scene to another because you eventually have to toss all of your expectations out the window. 

One of the more interesting things about “The Killing Of Two Lovers” is writer/director Robert Machoian’s choice to shoot much of the film with wide-shots.  This choice almost gives you the impression at times that you are watching a documentary – at a distance.  When there is a cut to a close-up, it is nearly alarming; when the camera dollies-in to a closer view, the viewer gets the impression that they’re being intrusive – they are suddenly somewhere that they don’t belong because all of this is such an intimate family moment that it’s none of a stranger’s business.  The performances by the cast transform this into being a particularly realistic experience. 

Following the streaming, there was a video of an interview with writer/director Robert Machoian and star Clayne Crawford.  Machoian said that while he grew up in California, he now lives in Utah, which is where the story is set – he likes to set stories in places where he lives because of his familiarity with the locale.  Crawford recalled meeting Machoian a decade ago at The Sundance Festival, where they hit it off and decided that they wanted to work on some projects together.  One of the better compliments that Machoian claimed he got about the film had to do with his script; after a screening, viewers actually believed that the actors had improvised all of the dialog.