There are some films I approach with caution. I steer clear of horror films and avoid war films as I’m not a fan of violence. There’s enough cruelty in the world that I don’t feel I need to subject myself to it as a form of entertainment. However, there are some filmmakers that I admire whose work I want to support. Even if that means I’m going to be uncomfortable.
Yorgos Lanthimos is the Greek filmmaker whose Oscar-winning film, “Poor Things” is a good example. While I adored that film, I knew that his latest film was a return to form. Some of his other films I’ve found interesting and creative, even if I didn’t personally enjoy them. Lanthimos is like an alien discovering humanity and trying to make sense of it using a language that I don’t often understand.
“Kinds of Kindness” resembles a well-funded, deeply personal art project. Imagine an artist workshop or commune where a group of actors is given a set of props and a few lines of dialogue and given free rein to create three wildly divergent works. This triptych of absurdist tales features death, dismemberment and sacrifice with the same actors portraying different characters in each of the stories.
Lanthimos cowrote the screenplay with Efthimis Filippou. Each of the three stories runs about 45 minutes and feature a re-occurring character and a theme of sacrifice. Jesse Plemons was awarded the Cannes 2024 prize in acting for his work in the film. He does a great job transforming into each character. Each of the actors is given a chance to showcase their skills except poor R.M.F. Yorgos Stefanakos is the actor who appears in all three short stories–he’s the one the character’s kill or resurrect. And he gets to eat a sandwich.
“It felt like a subtle way to connect the three stories other than the fact that the same actors play a different character in each story,” Lanthimos told Variety at the “Kinds of Kindness” premiere in New York. “We didn’t want to have a main character reappearing, but a character that had a short time in the film. But at the same time, his presence was pivotal.” Variety Magazine, Michaela Zee, June 24, 2024
Your enjoyment of the film depends on whether you accept each of the different realities and moralities presented by the filmmakers. There are multiple scenes of copulation: couple swapping, rape, and sexual couplings with the adored cult leader. I felt a misogynistic tendency present in the ways the female characters are treated. Nudity is fine if it’s for a reason, but in this film, it objectifies the women. Margaret Qualley, in particular, is a character sexualized as the scantily clad wife. Then she’s a naked girl committing suicide and finally, her character dies in a horrific accident. She radiates goodness and is treated like an object; a pretty body to be weighed, measured and tested, and then discarded.
These fables have been referred to as darkly-comic. There are moments so absurd that they’re funny, like when Emma Stone’s character busts a move when she’s certain she’s discovered the savior for her cult. Or when Hong Chau’s character licks a woman to see if she’s “clean”. If you’re empathetic to the characters though, watching one suffer onscreen doesn’t inspire laughter. It’s black comedy if you can find violent death amusing.
I felt it was distracting to have random odd characters and strange character traits. Why did Emma Stone’s character need a purple car that she’s drives like a stunt woman? Why was the daughter called “the little one”? In what world would a character perform a crazy dance in a parking lot while there’s a drugged body in a wheelchair nearby? I did enjoy Jesse Plemons transformation from character to character. His hair was so different in each episode.
Rarely do I recommend waiting to watch a film till it’s available to stream. “Kinds of Kindness” might benefit from some time between each bleak story. It’s hard to stomach that much absurdness in one sitting, especially when the trio of tales lasts a full 164 minutes. That’s a lot to ask of a movie fan.
Drinks with Films rating: one sip of “holy” water anointed by tears (out of 5)
Kinds of Kindness is a 2024 absurdist black comedy anthology film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a screenplay he co-wrote with Efthimis Filippou.[5][6] It stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer.
Drinks with films 