The Killing of Two Lovers stars Sepideh Moafi, which is why I wanted to see it. The film about a separation between the parents of four children is told from the husband David’s (Clayne Crawford) point of view. It’s streaming on Hulu.
More character study than anything else, The Killing of Two Lovers looks at David and how he deals with the possibility that he may be losing his wife. We learn early on that David and Niki (Sepideh Moafi) agreed to separate for a while. They want to work on their marriage, but also agreed to see other people during that time.
The fact that Niki is bringing home Derek (Chris Coy) and letting him spend the night in the house with their four kids really bothers David. He wants to murder them both. He does his best to get along and take care of his kids while seething inside.
David is living in his dad’s house, just a few blocks from Niki. The movie was filmed in Kanosh, Utah. It’s a small town where everyone knows everyone. The town is surrounded by mountains and is the perfect setting for this tale.
Much of the film takes place in David’s truck as he drives from place to place. Sometimes it’s just him, sometimes all four of his kids are crammed inside. These are the most intimate scenes in the film. Anything outside of the truck is photographed from a great distance. Conversations are shot from several feet away, keeping the viewers separated from the actors by a wide barrier.
We never learn what the problems are between David and Niki. They seem to communicate well. Why did they feel the need to separate in the first place?
The only time we spend with Niki is when David is talking with her. Sepideh Moafi does have a big role in the film, but only as she matters to David. It was still interesting to see her in something other than The L Word: Generation Q. To answer my own question, yes, she is worth it.
Robert Machoian wrote and directed the film, which rated well and received high praise from reviewers. Although I understood David’s pain, I felt disconnected from the story. The discordant music and random slamming sounds on the sound track carried a message – it was unusual but effective sound work.
I thought the ending was awful. My problem with the ending was it related to something Derek did and not to anything that happened between David and Niki. David and Niki needed to solve their problems in their own way.
You can get a sense of the film from the trailer.
Are you going to give this independent film a try? Let me know what you think of it if you do.
I thought it was a terrible waste of time. There was no beginning, and there was no ending.
It was one of those slice of life impressions. They have a good washing machine but not a good marriage.