The Things You Kill – Movie Review (3/5)

THE THINGS YOU KILL is a new revenge thriller with a few unexpected twists along the way. It all plays out in Turkey, but the story is universal in many brutal ways. Also, this is Canada’s Oscar bid for 2026. Yes, I do mean Canada. Read our full The Things You Kill movie review here!

THE THINGS YOU KILL is a movie that I probably expected more from, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good movie. It’s just that I knew, before watching it, that this is the Oscar bid from Canada for the 2026 Best Foreign Film award. This made for some expectations that the movie didn’t deliver on.

Having said that, I still highly recommend watching this movie. However, I have to highlight that you need to go in with an open mind and pay attention. The premise is fairly simple as far as revenge stories go, but the storytelling style chosen for this thriller does challenge its audience.

Continue reading our The Things You Kill movie review below. Find it in select theaters from November 14, 2025.

Revenge or forgiveness?

With The Things You Kill, we see family members struggle with the choice between revenge and forgiveness. When dealing with trauma, this will often seem like the only two choices. If you want to move on, you must either forgive or react. Forgetting is rarely an option – and never the healthy one.

It all begins with a son, Ali, questioning the suspicious death of his mother. Very quickly, he suspects that his father had a hand in his mother’s accidental death. Ali is a university professor who has returned to his native Turkey after spending more than a decade in the USA.

Why he left is part of the story, so I won’t get into that. However, he returned to be closer to his family and wants to start a family and build a garden on a plot of land. To help with the latter, an enigmatic gardener plays a role. Appearing out of nowhere, he is ready to help Ali with whatever he needs.

Before long, thoughts of revenge take over, and family secrets will surface to reveal painful truths. Can Ali hold back the darkness that has been building up inside, or will he give in and let it out?

Up for a possible Oscar nomination

As already mentioned, The Things You Kill is the Oscar bid from Canada for the 2026 Best Foreign Language Film award. The director of this movie is an Iranian-Canadian filmmaker, and the story is in Turkish and takes place in Turkey.

I can’t say anything against this, as the amazing Under the Shadow became a nominee for the UK, and Holy Spider was a nominee for my own native Denmark. It’s all about following the filmmaker and, especially, the money. Who produced the movie? That’s where you discover the connection to which country will be the potential Oscar recipient.

Anyway, I also had Incendies in the back of my mind. Simply due to it being from a Canadian director, taking place in the Middle East, and also being nominated for an Oscar for Canada. The breathtaking 2010 movie was by Denis Villeneuve, and I truly cannot recommend it enough.

Incendies didn’t win the Oscar, because that went to my native Denmark for Susanne Bier‘s In A Better World. As proud as I am of that, I personally feel Incendies has a stronger story.

Anyway, my point is simply that I expected something that The Things You Kill never promised, and yet it did impact my overall experience with watching it. Fairly? Not at all, but here we are.

Watch The Things You Kill when you can

The Things You Kill was written & directed by Alireza Khatami. Despite not having watched anything by this Iranian-Canadian filmmaker before, I am very excited to see what he does next. The core story of this movie is heartbreaking yet offers hope. And yet, this is also a dark revenge story that involves choices you can never undo.

The movie has already won the 2025 Sundance Directing Award in the “World Cinema Dramatic” category. This alone makes it an obvious choice to send to the Oscars as well. That’s probably a good part of the reason for making The Things You Kill Canada’s official selection for the 98th Academy Awards.

It’s possible that I would’ve ended a rating higher on another day, but no more than that. The reason is the storytelling choices. It’s a strong story, but it does expect a lot from its audience before setting the stage and presenting the premise ideally. To this movie-watcher, anyway.

The Things You Kill opens in New York on November 14, 2025, before expanding to Los Angeles and additional markets on November 21, 2025. 

Details

Director: Alireza Khatami
Script: Alireza Khatami
Cast: Ekin Koç, Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü, Ercan Kesal, Serhat Nalbantoğlu, Aysan Sümercan, Selen Kurtaran