Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou
Starring: Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, and Margaret Qualley
Runtime: 164 minutes
‘Kinds of Kindness’: Yorgos doesn’t kill his audience with kindness. He tests our endurance for cruelty.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ previous film, “Poor Things” (2023), rightfully triumphed with riches of Academy Award gold with four Oscar wins - Best Actress, Production Design, Costume Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling - out of its 11 nominations that included Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, and Best Supporting Actor.
(For the record, Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo gave the Best Actress and Supporting Actor performances, respectively, that this film critic saw in 2023, but let’s not digress.)
“Poor Things”, his most ambitious creation – with a depraved backstory that “blossoms” into a soaring, whimsical, albeit twisted adventure - bursts with bizarre and wondrous opulence.
His new movie, “Kinds of Kindness”, strips down the pomp and circumstance of big-budget whimsy. Lanthimos and co-writer Efthimis Filippou conjure three short stories that dwell in the depths of depravity. Yes, this anthology offers a few moments of straight-up hilarity – like an uber-specific sports memorabilia sight gag, one that would make Wes Anderson proud, but a majority of the scarce (other) laughs transpire due to disbelief and anxiety.
It's a challenging picture and probably one that hard-core Yorgos fans or those who appreciate their cinema with extra helpings of cynicism will enjoy. “Kinds” scoops concepts like selling your soul for Corporate America, relationship distrust, and desperate wishes for acceptance. Control, power, and ambition light up, like a Saturday night on Las Vegas Blvd., and the three stories feature an invisible judge and jury that silently opine about morality in ways that made “The Twilight Zone” (1959 – 1964) and “Tales from the Crypt” (1989 – 1996) famous.
In this case, Lanthimos holds up a mirror to the current state of the human condition, and audiences won’t like what they see. Shadowy tones connect the three tales but also through the exploits of one consistent supporting figure named R.M.F. (Yorgos Stefanakos) and a terrific ensemble – Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, and Margaret Qualley – who play different characters in each story. The cast is certainly up to the task. Everyone across the board offers compelling performances during each narrative.
(My favorites here are Dafoe, Plemons, and Qualley.)
Part of the allure is observing the said performers dive into completely different roles as the film moves from Part I to Part II to Part III.
“Kinds” premiered at Cannes 2024, and Plemons took home the festival’s Best Actor award for this unapologetic arthouse picture. Plemons’ characters are the primary focus in the first two installments. Parts I and II land on target with Lanthimos’ (supposed) intention of pessimism and irony, setting up our everyman protagonist (Plemons) with two claustrophobic situations where escaping with a clear conscience appears unattainable.
The welcome pacing, frequent reveals, shocking turns, and an ambiance of doom align with our director’s signature, even though the laughs – this time - feel almost as infrequent as a snowball fight in Phoenix.
However, the picture cools during the third segment, in which Stone dominates the screen rather than Plemons. It’s not the two-time Oscar winner’s fault. The script meanders between two lukewarm narratives, and each doesn’t pack the wallop of the first two episodes.
While the movie’s first two yarns spin rather quickly, the third strings us along like a Monday morning traffic jam. Without holding a stopwatch during the screening, the first two tales feel about 45 minutes each, while the third seems like 90 minutes on its own. The film’s total runtime is 164 minutes, so this critic’s estimates are probably pretty close.
The third act is a disappointing slog, and the rare levity throughout the picture compounds the disenchantment, even with its striking conclusion.
Still, “Kinds of Kindness” leaves a mark with plenty to ponder once the (final) end credits roll, including attempting to piece together the connections between the stories. It’s a film that may need to be seen a few times to connect the warped dots (assuming they do connect)…if you can sit through this troubling triad of tales for multiple viewings.
Yorgos doesn’t kill his audience with kindness. He tests our endurance for cruelty.
Jeff’s ranking
2.5/4 stars
