The Killing of Two Lovers
David is an absolute wreck. His wife is sleeping with another man, and he cannot handle it. He’s prepared to kill them both, but he can’t. He runs out of the house, and returns to his father’s house, where he is currently living. All of this happens in the opening scene of Robert Machoian’s “The Killing of Two Lovers,” so I’m not really giving much away. This scene sets the devastating tone for the entire movie, wherein David struggles to holster that rage, and do what is right for his family. It’s not easy to do so, however, when your world is falling apart.
David is played by Clayne Crawford, and he acts with the same loose-cannon energy and pain that simmers just below the surface that he had in his stint as Martin Riggs in the “Lethal Weapon” TV show. He tries to put on a positive face for the sake of his children, but even his children- especially the oldest one, Jess- seem to be able to tell that something is not quite right, and not just because he is now living with his father and coming to tell two of his kids jokes at 2:30 in the morning. One of the things Crawford had to grow into as an actor is his ability to be a bit of a dick, and make it land with the character- his supporting work in “A Walk to Remember” was weak in that film because he hadn’t quite matured as an actor, but compare that to his performance as David, with his work as Riggs as a nice middle ground, and he is a complete performer, while maintaining a lot of the same traits he had when he was younger. It’s a terrific turn for the actor, and David is a heartbreaking character. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t display toxic traits, though.
I have never been involved in a messy breakup, thankfully, but the one we’re seeing in “The Killing of Two Lovers” is not unlike several we have seen over the years. We can imagine what happened between David and his wife (Sepideh Moafi) to have caused the split, and it was likely David’s fault. As he tells Jess at one point, they got together too young, had her, and over time, it just wasn’t going to work. I would imagine there’s a lot more to the story, and we can possibly fill in some of the blanks for ourselves. The couple are basically separated right now, and while Nikki, the wife, is acting as though maybe things can work out for the sake of the kids, that opening scene, with her in bed with her boyfriend (Chris Coy), tells us everything we need to know about where she’s at in the separation, which David will come to realize as the film moves forward. He thinks there’s a real chance for them to get back together towards being a family, and we see that deflate during their “date night.” The way Machoian writes these scenes is with purpose and subtlety; there are no big emotional moments where the actors have to go over the top- it’s all grounded and the moments hit harder, especially a late one where David and the boyfriend have a confrontation. The boyfriend is not without his toxic traits, either; he’s arguably just as much a negative influence on the situation, as well, and that scene leads to a conclusion that will linger long after the film’s over.
One of Machoian’s strongest choices with the film is how he puts all of these scenes from David’s point-of-view. Of course, Nikki and everyone else has their own story to be told, but the choice of following David all the way through, as well as the use of the 4:3 framing by Machoian and cinematographer Oscar Ignacio Jiménez, bring us deep into David’s mindset as the film goes on, which is a big part of where the finale gets its power from. Considering where the film starts from, that is quite an accomplishment.
