Watch The Things You Kill (2025) in high definition (HD, 720p and 1080p) on DesiMovieLinks, completely free and without registration. This cerebral psychological thriller from Iranian-Canadian director Alireza Khatami won the Directing Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival for its masterful exploration of grief, masculinity, and inherited violence. Turkish actor Ekin Koç delivers a commanding performance as Ali, a university professor in Ankara whose seemingly stable life begins to unravel following the suspicious death of his ailing mother. When he suspects his authoritarian father may be responsible, Ali's suppressed rage emerges, leading him into a hypnotic descent with his enigmatic gardener Reza (Erkan Kolçak Köstendil). Running 113 minutes, this Turkish-language film co-stars Hazar Ergüçlü and Ercan Kesal.

A Sundance-Winning Vision

The Things You Kill earned immediate acclaim at its Sundance premiere, where Alireza Khatami took home the prestigious Directing Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Critics praised the film's ambitious exploration of identity fracture and patriarchal violence passed down through generations. Director Khatami, known for co-directing the Cannes-acclaimed Terrestrial Verses, brings visual sophistication and psychological depth to a narrative that defies easy categorization. The film begins as grounded family drama before transforming into something far more disorienting and surreal.

Khatami cites David Lynch as a major influence, and the comparison proves apt as the film progresses. What starts with realistic family tensions gradually gives way to increasingly dreamlike sequences that blur reality and psychological projection. The director displays remarkable trust in his audience, refusing to spell out exactly what's happening on screen and allowing viewers to piece together meaning from carefully constructed ambiguity. This approach polarized some viewers but rewarded those willing to engage with the film's challenging structure.

Ekin Koç's Transformative Lead Performance

Turkish star Ekin Koç delivers a career-defining performance as Ali, a man whose progressive self-image masks deep-seated rage inherited from the patriarchal violence he claims to reject. As a literature professor teaching courses on translation and language, Ali initially appears as an intellectual who has escaped his father's shadow. But Khatami gradually reveals the cracks in this veneer through small moments of irritation that build toward something darker. Koç navigates the character's disintegration with precision, making each stage of the psychological descent believable.

The performance requires Koç to play multiple registers simultaneously, presenting a surface of modern masculinity while suggesting the violence bubbling beneath. His scenes with Erkan Kolçak Köstendil as the mysterious gardener Reza crackle with tension and ambiguity, their relationship operating as both literal narrative and metaphorical exploration of Ali's fractured psyche. Hazar Ergüçlü brings sympathetic presence as Ali's wife Hazal, a character caught in circumstances she cannot control. The ensemble's naturalistic performances ground even the film's more experimental sequences in emotional truth.

Inherited Violence and Patriarchy

The film's central themes involve the transmission of violence and authoritarian impulses across generations. Ali's father Hamit (Ercan Kesal) represents old-world masculinity, rigid and dominating, unable to care for his dying wife or connect with his daughters. Ali believes himself different, enlightened, freed from this inheritance through education and distance. But his mother's death under suspicious circumstances awakens something in Ali that proves impossible to contain. The film asks whether we can ever truly escape the patterns established by our fathers.

Khatami, an Iranian filmmaker working in Turkey, uses this specific story to examine broader questions about patriarchal societies and the difficulty of genuine transformation. The film critiques cultural and social dysfunction without offering easy solutions, instead presenting transformation as requiring confrontation with internal darkness rather than mere rejection of external tradition. Ali's journey forces him to look into the abyss of his own soul, recognizing that the violence he hates in his father lives within himself. This recognition provides the film's devastating emotional core.

Lynchian Mystery and Visual Poetry

Cinematographer Bartosz Świniarski captures the Turkish landscape with both allure and menace, using sweeping vistas that become increasingly alienating as Ali's mental state deteriorates. The film's use of mirrors throughout creates disorienting effects that reflect its themes of split identity and self-confrontation. Certain sequences employ darkness and obscured imagery that dial up the Lynchian tenor, creating dreamlike sequences that challenge viewers to determine what's literal and what's psychological projection.

The Things You Kill demands active engagement rather than passive viewing. Plot elements that initially seem straightforward reveal unexpected complexity, with a mid-point pivot that transforms the genre entirely. Those expecting conventional thriller payoffs may find the ambiguity frustrating, while viewers willing to embrace the film's metaphorical approach discover rich rewards. The sound design and editing contribute to an atmosphere of mounting dread that persists even in seemingly peaceful moments. Every element works toward creating unease.

Stream Now on DesiMovieLinks

Experience The Things You Kill in HD quality on DesiMovieLinks across all your devices. This Sundance award-winning psychological thriller delivers intellectual depth, powerful performances, and visual artistry that lingers in memory. Whether you're drawn by festival acclaim, appreciation for challenging cinema, or interest in Turkish filmmaking, this represents international cinema at its most ambitious. Stream free without registration and discover why critics called this one of 2025's finest thrillers, a film that challenges and rewards in equal measure.