Sundance 2020: THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS
By Andrea Thompson
A film that kicks off with their tortured male protagonist standing pointing a gun at his estranged wife’s head while she’s asleep (next to her new boyfriend) may not be the most qualified film to explore toxic masculinity. But that’s how The Killing of Two Lovers does indeed begin, with David (Clayne Crawford) thankfully failing to follow through, partly because he hears his children in the home he no longer shares with Nikki (Sepideh Moafi), his wife. If we somehow had any doubts about where this could still go, the score clears them away via an unnerving combination of the Jaws theme and Trent Reznor, offering us a disquieting glimpse into an unraveling mind ripe for exploration. If only that casual perusal had become a thorough character study.
