THE THINGS YOU KILL - MIFF 2025

 

As per the MIFF guide: “Reserved academic Ali is feeling emasculated on several fronts; the course he teaches might be cancelled; he and his wife just can't seem to conceive; and his father, Hamit, sees him as a failure. On top of this, he learns that his mother has died, and he suspects Hamit may be responsible. So when an opportunity to exact revenge presents itself by way of a strangely audacious drifter, how can Ali refuse?”

Alireza Khatami's “The Things You Kill” was a film that I hadn't originally planned on seeing at MIFF, but when I did my final sweep of the guide, it's synopsis intrigued me enough to load up the trailer for the film. I was immediately impressed by what I saw and shut the trailer off before it could reveal any of the film's surprises. “The Things You Kill” is a shape-shifting revenge thriller that starts as one thing at the beginning of the film, before becoming something entirely different by it's end. Unfortunately, this is one of those films where I will only be able to allude to certain aspects of the film, because knowing them ahead of time will ruin the secrets hidden within.

The film, which takes place in Turkey, starts with Ali visiting his elderly and disabled mother. Due to his job teaching at the local college, and living some distance away, he doesn't get to visit his mother as much as he should, or as he would like. While there, he cares for her sensitively, cleaning up for her, washing her, re-dressing her, feeding her....all the things a good son should do. However he is disgusted by the state of the house, and once again, that his father is not home looking after his mother. When Hamit arrives home before Ali leaves, the two violently clash, and it is clear that they do not get along. The mother asks her son to leave so that her husband calms down, which he does, reluctantly. Soon after, while back at home, he gets word from his sister that his mother has died. Heartbroken he goes to his mother's place to mourn with the rest of the family, and he and his father have yet another argument. Some time later, during a conversation with one of his sisters, Ali learns that Hamit has been abusive towards his mother before (when he was studying in the US), which makes him wonder if his father actually killed his mother, instead of her collapsing like he told the family. When the death certificate seems to confirm his suspicions, he is outraged and incensed and decides it is up to him to get revenge for his mother, by killing his own father.

“The Things You Kill” is a very interesting movie, and one that took me a long time to register exactly what was going on in the film. Once I did, I realised that it was so much better than I originally gave it credit for. Whilst the film takes place in, and was shot in Turkey, it is actually a Canadian film. Initially when the film begins, it feels like is going to be a character study about a man under so much pressure that keeps increasing, until it reaches a breaking point for him. From the pressures of trying (and failing) to conceive, to learning he may not have a job next semester, to the death of his mother, to then his wife moving out.....Ali takes hit after hit, that you wonder how much a man can take before he eventually breaks. However, a wrinkle to the story is added when he suspects his father of murdering his mother, as he now has somewhere to aim his pent up rage that is building inside him. From here, the movie becomes about revenge, and whether or not it is worth it, and if you do decide to go through with it, how much does that change a man.

And change is something Ali certainly does, as the kind, caring man we saw looking after his mother at the beginning of the film turns into a rude, aggressive man, willing to cheat on his wife with a student, just for a bit of fun. He essentially becomes a different person entirely....but does it make his life any better? Things finally come to a head, when the new gardener Ali has hired convinces him that he should kill his father. This is the catalyst that sees “The Things You Kill” morph into something else entirely as themes of identity, corruption, compliance and guilt are explored in the twisting and turning finale to the film, that has been described by some as very Lynchian.

This is a stunningly well-made film by Iranian director Alireza Khatami, that is so much more complex and brilliant than I originally gave it credit for. For most of the first half of the film, it plays more like an Iranian drama, the sort that Asghar Farhadi made famous. It is built around character, while plot elements that will become important much later in the film are sprinkled throughout the narrative in a fashion that you never notice. Probably the most impressive element in “The Things You Kill” is Bartosz Swiniarski's stunning cinematography, which takes full advantage of the Turkish countryside and mountain areas. Swiniarski, later in the film, also plays with the focus of certain images, so that the scenes play out-of-focus, signalling a further twist in the film during the very surreal second half. Having any image not in focus is a brave thing for a cinematographer and director to do, but because it makes sense here thematically speaking, it pays off brilliantly. The film has also been very well acted, particularly by the men of the picture. Ekin Koç is superb as Ali, a good man going through so much all at once. You can feel the constant pressure he is under, as he is trying to do good by everyone but seems to be failing them all. Ercan Kesal, as his father Hamit, comes across as an aggressive and arrogant man, believes he is the boss of the family, and his say is the end of it. Koç and Kesal have great antagonistic chemistry together, and are worthy combatants for the other to go up against. The most mysterious character though is Reza, the new gardener that Ali has hired, who is played by Erkan Koçak Köstendil, coming across as very smart, friendly and willing to do anything Ali needs of him, but why is he so accommodating to someone who is essentially a stranger (even if he is his boss).

As I have mentioned, “The Things You Kill” morphs into something completely different by its end than what it was at it's start and this is true of the film making too, as whilst the early section of the film feels more like an Iranian drama, once the revenge mechanics begin to take hold, Khatami starts to handle his material in a fashion more suited to American directors like Brian de Palma or David Lynch. There was one shot in particular that truly impressed me, and I am not sure if it could have been actually achieved without the help of visual effects, but it starts outside of the small cabin where Ali's garden is situation before it begins to focus on a broken mirror on the wall. As it gets closer to the mirror, we see in it's reflection the image of Reza for the first time, as the camera continues to focus on him as he moves around the property but through the reflection the entire time. I am not sure if I am making it clear what the shot actually looks like, but it is sensational, and Khatami goes back to the wall later in the film to pull off a similar mirror shot towards the end. Another thing that I loved was a dream that Ali's wife describes at the beginning of the film (which at the time just feels like natural conversation between a husband and wife), becomes so pivotal towards the end of “The Things You Kill”.

Overall, I found this review so hard to write, because I did not want to step on any of the twists that exist in “The Things You Kill”. While it is true that the film initially confused me when I was watching it, once I had worked out exactly what was going on, I liked it more and more, and it is one of the films that I keep thinking about and coming back to since my screening, over ten days ago now. The film making craft on display is exceptional, as is the underlying story itself, but I loved the fact that the film was so malleable and changed, going from something so straightforward to something more extreme and surreal. “The Things You Kill” will not be for everyone, but for those who like cinema a little bit different than the norm, I urge you to check it out, as it is something pretty special, and I think I will enjoy it even more after repeat viewings.

3.5 Stars.

 

NOUVELLE VAGUE - MIFF 2025

 

As per the MIFF guide: “It’s the summer of 1959 in Paris, and the eve of a cinematic revolution. Already having gained a reputation for rattling the French film industry’s cage as an iconoclastic film critic, Jean-Luc Godard has joined Cahiers du Cinéma colleagues François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette and Claude Chabrol in exchanging the pen for the camera. His first feature, Breathless – a jazzy handheld thriller about the love affair between an American aspiring journalist and a French petty criminal starring up-and-coming actors Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo – is destined to rewrite the cinematic rule book and make him a global household name. But first, he has to actually make it … and shooting on the streets of Paris with zero permits, little money and no prepared script is easier said than done.”

Director Richard Linklater actually had two brand new films play at MIFF this year: “Blue Moon”, a bio-pic about troubled songwriter Lorenz Hart, and “Nouvelle Vague”, Linklater's love letter to the French New Wave and Jean-Luc Godard himself. If you had asked me which of the two films I would end up loving the most, I wouldn't have hesitated in answering “Nouvelle Vague”, due to my love of French cinema, and the fact that I did not know who Lorenz Hart even was before I saw “Blue Moon”, however the opposite turned out to be true, as I was blown away by “Blue Moon” and Ethan Hawke's performance in it as Hart. It is the more serious of the two films as well. That said, “Nouvelle Vague” was also an excellent film, and a whole lot of fun, but in my eyes, less of an artistic achievement compared to “Blue Moon”.

“Nouvelle Vague” is the dramatisation behind the making of one of the most influential films of all time, Jean-Luc Godard's “Breathless”. In Linklater's film, we watch Godard stress about the fact that all of his contemporaries from Cahiers du Cinema have all made films, and he is still yet to, and he begs producer Georges de Beauregard to help him finance his first film. He agrees, on the proviso that Claude Chabrol and Francois Truffaut help with the script since they have already made successful films themselves, and they could use their names to sell the film. Godard agrees, and the rest of the film is about their journey to make the classic film. This is Richard Linklater's first French language film, but it matters little as it appears being unfamiliar with a language isn't something that bothers the director and force him to make a bad film. If I am being a little unfair, I would say that “Nouvelle Vague” is essentially a gimmick film, as Linklater does his best to recreate classic moments from “Breathless” while getting Jean-Luc Godard to sprout some of the quotes he has become most famous for. It may be a gimmick, but he does it so well, and it is such a fun movie.

To capture the same New Wave spirit that existed during the making of “Breathless”, Linklater has cast his film with a whole bunch of newcomers to the big screen. He has cast enormously well too, finding actors who not only embody the real-life person they are playing, but to actually look very close to them as well. Guillaume Marbeck is sensational as Godard, giving the director the air of arrogance that he is known for, as well as an excitement to go out and shoot his first film. It is hard to believe that this is Marbeck's first leading role because he commands the screen, and is so convincing as the famed director. The way he loses himself behind his ideas, the fact that he never doubts that what he wants to do in his film is the right way to do it, even the way he constantly fights with his producer...you just believe that you are watching Godard himself. I was very impressed with Aubry Dullin, who plays lead actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, and how close he actually looked like him. He is also believable in the physicality he shows as a boxer, while showing a looseness when shooting the film, and not getting too concerned whenever Godard would change his mind over something. Zooey Dutch plays Jean Seberg, and she certainly looks the part, but if there was one thing I was critical about, was how it appeared Dutch was really struggling with the French language and may have even learned her lines phonetically. Then again, Seberg herself was American so maybe this is intentional. Two other people whose performances I loved in the film were Bruno Dreyfurst who plays producer Georges de Beauregard, and is often seen at his wits end over the time and way Godard is shooting his film, and Matthieu Penchinat who plays cameraman, Raoul Coutard. There are also so many blink and you miss it cameos of people playing important characters in cinema history like Roberto Rossellini, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, Francois Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Jean Cocteau, Suzanne Schiffman and Jean-Pierre Melville to name a few. Unfortunately the guy Linklater got to play Melville was much too thin and old for the role, although got his deep voice spot on, which is why I am sure he got the role.

To recapture the look of “Breathless”, apparently Richard Linklater used the same type of camera and film Godard used and you cannot say it was a bad decision because “Nouvelle Vague” definitely looks just like the 1960 classic. He and cinematographer David Chambille have done a fantastic job of recreating the look of Paris in 1960, and you would be excused to think that what you are watching actually came from that era; it is that convincing. Probably the best thing about “Nouvelle Vague” is that it captures the spirit of that time and how excited everyone was at making a movie that was a little bit different from the norm. Well almost everyone, as it is shown in “Nouvelle Vague” how confused Jean Seberg was in Godard's shooting decisions, confused at getting her script each morning, and convinced that the film would ultimately be a failure. Apparently, all this is true, and Seberg didn't always get along with Godard, which is not sugar coated here. One scene in the film that is an absolute highlight is when Godard is told to meet someone down in the Metro. He heads down there, only to find Robert Bresson himself, who is currently shooting (his future masterpiece) “Pickpocket”. The scene is also very amusing as Bresson has his star constantly steal things from Godard and his producer whilst they are talking. It is a fantastic scene and if the timelines really did crossover, it is crazy to think that two absolute classics of French cinema were shooting at the exact same time.

I mentioned above how I am a big fan of French cinema, which is true, although the French New Wave is not my favourite era (I love the Poetic Realism films of the 1930's best), even though so many classics were made during this time. Of the New Wave directors, my favourites were always Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol, and I also like Alain Resnais (particularly “Last Year in Marienbad” which is a flat-out masterpiece), but I just could not get into Jean-Luc Godard. While I like some of his films, he always came across as too arrogant to me, and that his films were a way to show how smarter he was compared to you. I actually loved that “Nouvelle Vague” doesn't shy away from portraying Godard as an arrogant prick at times, and I also got a laugh when the actors would mock him for it. (I should point out that “Breathless” is one of the Godard films I love).

Overall, I really had a fun time with Richard Linklater's “Nouvelle Vague”. He has perfectly captured both an era and the spirit of that era that saw so many French film classics being made. The film is incredibly well cast, and even looks as though it was shot back in 1960 itself. Whilst it is an entertaining film, I wouldn't really call it a serious film; more like a hang-out film as we spend time with these well known faces as they shoot a film destined to change the world.

3.5 Stars.

 

A PRIVATE LIFE - MIFF 2025

 

As per the MIFF guide: “Liliane is an American psychiatrist working in Paris. Classy, controlled, ever the professional, she is thrown when she discovers that her patient Paula has unexpectedly died by suicide. She can’t shake the feeling that foul play may have been involved in Paula’s death – if only because that would absolve her of responsibility! – so she dives into her therapy session recordings for clues, and starts hunting around for possible suspects. From ex-husbands to doctors, hypnotists to fellow psychiatrists, Liliane will turn to anyone except herself for answers.”

Rebecca Zlotowski's “A Private Life” was the second-last film I saw at MIFF this year, which was a very deliberate choice on my part, because I wanted to go out with films that were lighter and more fun than is usual for the festival, which often lean towards more heavy and dramatic fare. It was such a good choice, as I absolutely loved this light murder-mystery thriller. It was so much fun, but nothing that you would take too seriously, and it has a fantastic performance from Jodie Foster in her first leading role in a French language film.

Foster plays Liliane, a psychiatrist who is just as neurotic as most of her patients. When she finds out that one of her patients, Paula, has recently died via suicide, she is sure that there is something else going on, and even suspects murder, because she never noticed any suicidal thoughts from Paula in any of their regular sessions together. Like all good mystery films, Liliane starts to search for clues herself, looking for motives and suspects to a crime that may or may not have been committed. Along the way, she gets her ex-husband Gabriel mixed up in the investigation, but he seems to be using this as just an excuse to be close to Liliane once again. When her office is torn apart and some of her recorded sessions have been stolen, Liliane is sure she is closing in on the killer, but is it the other way around?

“A Private Life” is a fun, and frothy thriller that has all the necessary ingredients to make it an enjoyable and suspenseful ride for the audience. It is not particularly intense, nor scary but I personally thought that Zlotowski handled the suspense elements really well, to the point that at times the film felt Hitchcockian in places. To be honest, I really wasn't expected too much from “A Private Life” but I was pleasantly surprised by just how much fun I had with it, and how well everything worked in the film, particularly the mystery itself which wraps up perfectly and isn't at all convoluted in it's resolution. It all comes together really well, and doesn't feel overly thought out, or elements were added just to trip up clever viewers trying to get ahead of the film and work it all out.

As I mentioned above, Jodie Foster is fantastic in the lead role of Liliane, and proves that she is just as good at performing in French as she is in English. It has been well-known that Foster is fluent in French for the majority of her life, and whilst she has had smaller roles in French films before (like Jean-Pierre Jeunet's “A Very Long Engagement” from 2004), this is the first time she has had to carry a French film, but she does it with aplomb. Being that her character is an American living in Paris, I also loved that she would regularly drop into English from time to time, especially when she was frustrated and swearing. That said, you can tell that she understands the French language and knows exactly what she is saying, because of the way she also emotes whilst speaking the language. One of the (small) problems I had with Richard Linklater's very fun movie “Nouvelle Vague” was in Zooey Dutch's performance as Jean Seberg, as I never believed she had any real control over the French language, and it felt like she may have learned it phonetically. (I have no idea if this is true or not, but it is how I felt, but Seberg herself was British, so maybe it was deliberate, but I always felt like Dutch was struggling with the French dialogue; it never came out of her mouth naturally.) With Foster, if you had never seen her in another movie before, you would just assume she was a native French speaker. She also has such wonderful chemistry with Daniel Auteuil who plays her ex-husband Gabriel. There was a time when Daniel Auteuil seemed to be in every French film that came out, at least the ones that made it to Australia, but it has actually been a very long while since I had seen him in anything, and “A Private Life” reminded me just how great an actor he really is. His chemistry with Foster feels effortless, and you can feel a warmth and love between the two of them. Auteuil also imbues Gabriel with a fun and goofy energy; you can tell the man is having a ball investigating this murder with his ex. Two other cast members of note are Virginie Efira, who plays the deceased Paula, and is seen in flashbacks, and Mathieu Amalric who plays Paula's grieving husband (and perhaps her killer) Simon. Amalric is excellent playing the dark and shady character, giving audiences enough to suspect him of killing his wife, whilst Efira has little to do, but gives this thriller a layer of class and sexiness to it.

The film has been gorgeously shot by cinematographer George Lechaptois who gives “A Private Life” a glossy look, and who exploits the usual visual cues that work so well in thrillers such as mirrors, staircases, the rain, windows, etc. It is through Lechaptois's camera work that the Hitchcock vibe is truly felt, particularly late in the film, as he is able to create palpably suspense through his moody visuals. It is such a classy looking film.

Probably my favourite thing about “A Private Life” though is the story itself, which isn't too heavy or takes itself too seriously, but serious enough so you feel the suspense of the situation and fear for the characters involved. As I mentioned earlier, I particularly loved the way the story wraps up because it all works and is believable. It is not one of those films where if you look at it later and go through certain details, that you realise that the story makes no sense and characters couldn't do or wouldn't do certain things we have been told they have done. “A Private Life” works perfectly, makes sense and for me, is a very satisfying ending to a great and fun mystery thriller. At the end of the day, the film is about listening, really listening, to one another to hear what they are trying to tell you.

The only negative that I have with the film, isn't really a negative per se, rather it is a moment that I found more odd than anything. Hypnosis plays a role in the film, and through one of these hypnosis sessions, Liliane explores one of her past lives, where she is a member of an orchestra which Paula, in one of her past lives, is also a part of. During their performance, which is clearly taking place during WWII, the Nazi's interrupt the performance killing Paula in the process, but the strangest part is that the Head Nazi is Liliane's son(?). It is such a weird moment and probably the only moment that does not work in “A Private Life”. It hints at a queer element in the film, and then just as quickly, discards the idea.

Overall, I had such a fun time with Rebecca Zlotowski's “A Private Life”, which exceeded my expectations. It is a playful and clever murder-mystery, that doesn't ask to be taken seriously, filled with wonderful performances from the whole cast, and which comes together for a very satisfying conclusion. It was the perfect film to see towards the end of MIFF and I actually look forward to watching it again sometime soon.

3.5 Stars.