“Kinds of Kindness” - Film Review
The opportunity to experience oddities on the big screen in a commercial theater is one that doesn’t come around very often. In a world of superhero movies, remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels, and what have you, it’s undeniably thrilling that a movie whose ending can’t be spoiled by prior works. Fresh off his Oscar success with Poor Things, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is back with a new film that bears no tie to an existing piece of media. Kinds of Kindness is its own strange beast, a triptych fable with a revolving cast - some Lanthimos regulars, others newcomers. While exciting for its weirdness, Kinds of Kindness is missing Lanthimos’ usually strong ability to tell a complete story. Or, in this case, three complete stories.
Kinds of Kindness is split into three sections: The Death of R.M.F., R.M.F. is Flying, and R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich. Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, and Mamoudou Athie make up the cast of various characters in these three fables. The first section sees a businessman (Plemons) grow frustrated with his controlling boss (Dafoe) and wife (Chau). Section two centers on a police officer (Plemons) whose missing wife (Stone) suddenly returns, but he believes that she’s actually a strange duplicate of his wife. The last story follows two cult members (Plemons & Stone) who are searching for a woman (Qualley) with the ability to bring people back from the dead. R.M.F., who makes an appearance in each of the sections, seemingly in the same role, is played by Yorgos Stefanakos.
courtesy of searchlight pictures
It’s hard to categorize Kinds of Kindness as each fable brings a new, distinct style and sensibility to the table. The film, as a whole, provides more than a few stunning shots - Plemons looming in his corner office, Stone dancing next to her car in a parking lot, and dogs sipping sodas on a beach. Kinds of Kindness is weird! And the film is excited to be odd. All the characters speak in a fast-paced monotone that’s equally off-putting and engaging. The experience of watching the movie feels a bit like a dream, an exercise in the ways one can stretch a metaphor and mold it into something surprising.
Thematically, each of the stories deals with ideas of abuse, power, and belief. Some sections deal with these themes better than others with the first, The Death of R.M.F., being the most successful. All of them, even when lacking narrative structural soundness, are bolstered by gonzo performances from the leads. Plemons deserves separate nominations for each of his performances in the three fables. It’s his first time working with Lanthimos and it’s obvious that their sensibilities mesh perfectly. Stone and Dafoe are refreshingly bizarre in each of their roles and seem to be at home in the worlds Lanthimos creates.
courtesy of searchlight pictures
Where Kinds of Kindness falters is in storytelling. In his previous works, there was never the feeling that Lanthimos had lost the plot. No matter how odd, he and his various co-writers of previous works always knew when and where to end the film. Each fable of Kinds of Kindness has a compelling, intriguing premise, but when the credits of each roll, there’s a feeling that the story is only halfway through. It’s often the second half of Lanthimos’ works that really seals the deal, and Kinds of Kindness is without that.
At almost three hours and containing three different stories, Kinds of Kindness might be a difficult sell to a more general audience. After Lanthimos’ more mainstream success with The Favourite and Poor Things, those unfamiliar with his earlier work may find themselves alienated in the audience of Kinds of Kindness. Even with the narrative aspects that could have benefitted from tightening up, there’s still something exciting about a film like Kinds of Kindness being heavily promoted and available to casual theatergoers. The film isn’t spoon feeding the audience and requires people to mull over what they watched, which isn’t something that’s expected of them from the latest Marvel release. That, on its own, makes Kinds of Kindness an exciting bolt of energy to the current state of moviegoing.
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