The film plays most effectively — which is not quite to say that it plays effectively — as a story of two couples, Lee and Marina (a Russian-speaking Michelle Trachtenberg), drifting part, and Jack and Jackie, coming together. As the less well-documented, less fabulous pair, there is more room to move with the Oswalds, for the writer and the actors to make them their own. (Trachtenberg has the least-thankless job here; most viewers will have no conception of Marina to measure her against.)
The murderous potential can become activated, especially if some disequilibrium is already present, when the victim-to-be is unconsciously perceived as a key figure in some past traumatic configuration. The behaviour, or even the mere presence of this figure adds a stress to the unstable balance of forces that results in a sudden extreme discharge of violence...”