Kinds of Kindness, 2024.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer, Merah Benoit, Krystal Alayne Chambers, Ja’Quan Monroe-Henderson, Nathan Mulligan, Tessa Bourgeois, Julianne Binard, Yorgos Stefanakos, Emily Brady, Jeffrey Riseden, and Jerskin Fendrix.
SYNOPSIS:
A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.
Not that I care, but the only moment accessible to a mainstream or casual moviegoing audience of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’ “triptych fable” (a fancy way of describing this as an anthology feature) Kinds of Kindness comes right alongside the studio logo and opening scene, blaring the song Sweet Dreams. It plays over the film’s trailer for good measure, which also sells a more conventional tone, suckering in those uninformed to this filmmaker’s mad mind.
I only bring this up because the following 163 minutes play out, yes, like the director reverting to something more unapologetically vile in its wicked humor, but also like the alienating depravity of someone sick of awards success with, yes, weird but still poignant and emotionally rewarding fare such as last year’s Poor Things. Elaborating on that thought, gone is the fisheye lens cinematography despite working with the same DP (Robbie Ryan), as if to push back against his trademark stylistic flair, which is likely contributing to that growing filmmaker recognition. It is still methodically and beautifully shot, but it is a visual choice that sticks out (perhaps scaled back because this film takes place in the real world, absurdist as it is.)
The point is that if you’re wondering why the new film from Yorgos Lanthimos and muse Emma Stone is basically being dumped into the summer by Searchlight following a string of Oscar-winning successes (The Favourite also took home some prizes), it’s probably because they saw what the filmmaker did here, which is more akin to lighting money on fire than going for another darkly accessible awards play.
This is undeniably fascinating but also the result of something that will potentially turn off even his most passionate followers. For one, even I must admit Kinds of Kindness feels weird for weirdness’ sake, lumbering along and eventually reaching a point where rape and animal abuse (unrelated instances) feel more like boxes to tick for shock value rather than something meaningfully upsetting to the story. Even if there are some great gallows punchlines along the way elevated by otherwise grounded performances that take gonzo materially seriously, it’s a patience-testing experience.
One also can’t help but wonder if the whole endeavor would be infinitely more enjoyable if the pacing didn’t appear so self-indulgent. A story ends as it’s getting juicy and intense, only for that momentum to be stopped dead in its tracks to focus on another overly long setup for a new group of characters played by the same admittedly outstanding ensemble. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to appreciate in this twisted trilogy of tales, as there do seem to be common themes regarding conditional love (sometimes of the orgy variety) and going to immoral lengths to earn it. They are great ideas to explore, with one left wishing any of the three stories was chosen to be fleshed out into a full-length feature to explore them fully.
As for the title, it seems to come from characters’ willingness to feign kindness to get into an advantageous position to obtain whatever or whoever they are really after, whether it be Jesse Plemons playing a pathetic pushover of a man who needs pity from unassuming, nice women to get a date or Emma Stone cutting a stray dog with a knife to access a veterinarian in an isolated location for reasons I won’t spoil (just two of the wonderfully upstanding and sane individuals they get to play here.)
Co-writing and reunited alongside collaborator Efthimis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos also playfully tosses in nudging references from one story to the next, indicating that, even if none of these tales are connected, the film is either trying to stay consistent or reverse aspects regarding each character. In one story, Willem Dafoe won’t stop shaming Jesse Plemons into eating more to appease his sexual attraction, whereas, in another, he will tell someone not to eat so much. Emma Stone finds herself briefly stranded on an island at one point, eating fish to survive, and then one story later, her character repeatedly remarks about how much she hates fish.
Whether or not this means anything is anyone’s guess, but considering Willem Dafoe keeps popping up as the head of sex cults and Jesse Plemons goes from a hopeless sad sack subservient contemplating murder to staying in the good graces of a sexual group in one story to a police officer accidentally shooting civilians in the finger and psychologically and physically abusing his partner, played by Emma Stone, under the impression that it is an alien or someone resembling her that returned as missing from the island, there are small details worth noting and power shifting dynamics at play. The issue is that it all appears to be a gesture towards nothing by the end.
Kinds of Kindness is flawed and unwieldy, but each of these screwed-up stories is indisputably insane, the kind of madness that leaves one questioning, “Who comes up with something so involvingly revolting.” Given that Yorgos Lanthimos is once again working alongside cinematographer Robbie Ryan with Jerskin Fendrix arranging another discordant and unsettling score, getting eerily convincing performances from reliable collaborators such as Emma Stone and game newcomers like the always absorbing Jesse Plemons, the film also contains several impressionable, hauntingly disturbing, and sickly uproarious images. In other words, it’s money well burned, even if it is overstuffed with weirdness and is, at times, offputting in its struggles to make a point about any of the recurring themes it brings up.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
