The Plot: In this trio of stories, a man (Jesse Plemons) lives under the direction of another (Willem Dafoe) and tries to break free; a woman (Emma Stone) returns home to her husband after disappearing and isn’t quite the same person; and a vet with apparent special abilities (Margaret Qualley) is sought after by a cleansing-obsessed cult…
The Verdict: Kinds Of Kindness has been shrouded in a fair degree of mystery. The brief trailer didn’t give that much away – a rarity these days. If anything, it attempted to bottle that secret Yorgos Lanthimos sauce and give audiences a taste of what’s to come. The Greek Weird Wave director returns to his more uncomfortable origins to some degree with his new film, again working in English with Dublin-based Element Pictures. He insists that he’s not trying to make audiences uncomfortable with this film, but perhaps his idea of comfortable is everyone else’s idea of uncomfortable (as evidenced by audible gasps from the squeamish at this reviewer’s screening). It’s a button-pushing film to be sure, but it’s done in a way that is moderately entertaining and often drily funny.
Kinds Of Kindness is an anthology film made up of three stories, using a Monty Python-style approach in recycling the main cast through each story for added bafflement. Apart from the same actors, the only other running threads are an extra called R.M.F. (Yorgos Stefanakos) who briefly appears in each story and the common theme of control. The characters here are all either under the control of another or are controlling others to get what they want with an iron fist. The script by Lanthimos and longtime collaborator Efthimis Filippou originally started as one story and then expanded out to include two more. It’s populated by an assortment of off-kilter characters that could only exist in their minds – Lanthimos Land, if you will. It’s a colourful place to immerse yourself in – for a while anyway. Like any anthology, it’s a bit of a mixed bag though.
The strongest story is the second one, which creates an atmosphere of domestic tension that Lanthimos ratchets up gradually. After her Oscar-winning performance in Poor Things, the fearless Emma Stone goes full throttle once again under the direction of Lanthimos. It continues to be an actor-director meeting of minds that bears fruit – long may it continue. The weakest story is the third one, which is a bit of a drag as the film tips well over the 2-hour mark. It seems to be weird just for the sake of it, whereas the other two stories at least had a sense of purpose. The third story is too flabby and unfocused – a rare thing for Lanthimos, stopping the film short of being something great. While it doesn’t do enough to imbalance the whole film, it does rob it of an extra star.
Kinds Of Kindness is all kinds of everything then – amusing, thrilling, propulsive filmmaking from a director on fire that is also frustrating, provocative and patience-testing. However, even a lesser film from Lanthimos is worth more than most other films.
Rating: 3 / 5
Review by Gareth O’Connor
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn.