Written and directed by Robert Machoian
Starring Clayne Crawford, Sepideh Moafi, Avery Pizzuto,
Rated R - language
Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes
In theaters and on demand May 14

by Audrey Callerstrom, Staff Writer

Set in an isolated Utah town surrounded by mountains, Robert Machoian’s The Killing of Two Lovers looks like it was filmed on a set. In reality, it’s filmed in Kanosh, Utah, a town with a population of less than 500 people. Every destination - school, an open field to launch rockets, your father’s house - is a walk or a brief car ride away. The mountains in the background look like a painted backdrop. David (Clayne Crawford), a contractor, sees a neighbor at the gas station and then, shortly thereafter, is near the neighbor’s home and greets him again. The home where David grew up, and where his father still lives, is a stone’s-throw away from where he lives with his wife, Nikki (Sepideh Moafi), and their four children. Or, at least he used to. As The Killing of Two Lovers starts, Nikki and David have decided to see other people as a way to cope with marriage trouble, and David is living with his dad.

The story is told from David’s point of view, and Clayne Crawford delivers an unwavering performance as a man struggling to keep things afloat for the sake of his family. David’s sons share their favorite jokes from the late comedian Mitch Hedberg, who they discovered on YouTube. So David, in a moment of loneliness, knocks on the boy’s window in the middle of the night to share a Mitch Hedberg joke with them. But it’s not the right one, and the boys, tired and unamused, fail to laugh. David’s attempt at a date night with Nikki similarly does not go as well planned. David wants to take her out, rekindle their relationship with dinner while their eldest, Jess (Avery Pizzuto) watches the boys. But Nikki, concerned about Jess’s attitude toward this new arrangement, opts to circle the block instead. While Nikki and David enjoy an intimate conversation in the car, their night ends abruptly. It’s clear early on that opening up their marriage was not David’s idea.

With the exception of the car scene, and the tight close ups that open the film (and serve as the image on the film’s poster), writer/director Robert Machoian largely keeps the drama at arms’ length. When Nikki and David discuss David’s late night visit, for example, the camera is situated as though the audience has pulled up to witness the conversation, but needs to stay a safe distance away. We’re accustomed to seeing the camera going in for a tight shot when two people talk, especially when there’s tense conversations like this. In a way we’re watching this like we would watch theater. Weak performances would cause the eyes to drift, but Crawford in particular is seamless. Moment to moment, I never questioned that this was David, a small town dad of four, a labor-for-hire kind of guy who can help you when you need with his truck and his time. David has one objective: to get Nikki back.

The film’s sound choices heighten the tension. The soundtrack includes echo-y effects and what sounds like someone intermittently, and with timed precision, using a staple gun. Combined with the sounds of David’s rumbling truck, you feel immersed in the feel of this small town. The Killing of Two Lovers is strongest as a small, understated drama about two people trying to work through their marriage. It hints that the film could have gone in a different direction and been more of a noir about how a man reaches his breaking point, especially when Nikki’s confrontational new lover Derek (Chris Coy) enters the picture. This balance between the two genres is what makes for an unclear and abrupt ending to the film. The film belongs to Crawford, who has appeared in numerous now-cancelled television shows like Lethal Weapon and Rectify. David is always a sympathetic presence, unable to hide his heartbreak. Even when he takes his punching dummy to a field for target practice, we don’t see a killer. We see a man in moments of desperation, removed from the warmth of his family, struggling with what he needs to do next.