THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS
A Thriller You Need To See
A family drama set in a small town, The Killing of Two Lovers was described by Sundance as a “study on masculinity, love, and ambiguity.” When Nikki (Sepideh Moafi) asks for a separation, David (Clayne Crawford) tries desperately to keep his family of six together. And although they agreed to see other people, David starts to struggle when his wife enters a new relationship. Set against the backdrop of a claustrophobic town, David grapples with the fear of his family falling apart in a place where secrets seem impossible to keep.
This is a breakthrough feature for Writer/Director Robert Machoian, whose resume is mostly compiled of short films and documentary shorts. Although last year, Machoian’s short film The Minors won him a Sundance Special Jury Award for Directing, and two other of his shorts played previously.
The film stars Crawford as David (who also has a producer credit on this film). While the 42-year-old Crawford has been racking up movie roles since 2002’s A Walk to Remember, he is best known for his television roles. He was the lead in Fox’s Lethal Weapon television series (a role he was fired from), and a supporting player on the Sundance Channel’s Rectify (as Teddy Talbot).
Co-stars also include actors who are more familiar to TV than film audiences, both Sepideh Moafi (Nikki) and Chris Coy (Derek) were mainstays on HBO’s The Deuce. Moafi was also a regular on Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q, and Coy was in the Hugh Jackman vehicle The Front Runner (as press secretary Kevin Sweeney).
With a runtime under an hour and half, the film has a true indie-spirit with taut pacing. It was shot on a shoe-string budget of just over $30k, and post-production also cost about that much according to Variety.
Already Crawford and Director Machoian have teamed up for a follow-up film —The Integrity of Joseph Chambers, which is currently in post-production.
Following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last month, The Killing of Two Lovers is set for a theatrical release on February 23rd, 2021.
