Year of Release: 2024
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Mamodou Athie, Joe Alwyn, Yorgos Stefanakos, Tessa Bourgeois
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
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Synopsis and Review
After the critical and commercial success of "Poor Things", director Yorgos Lanthimos is back, with a feature that is comprised of three episodes with some connecting threads, but for the most part functioning as separate chapters. He reunites with his Efthimis Filippou, whom he wrote "The Lobster", "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" and "Dogtooth". In the first chapter, named the "The Death of R.M.F.", we follow the story of Robert Fletcher, a man who follows every order coming from his controlling boss (and lover), Raymond. Raymond exacts orders in regard to everything in Robert's life, including whom he is married to, what he eats, when he has intercourse, literally everything. Things start going awry when Raymond tells Robert to crash his car into R.M.F.'s in order to kill him, and Robert fails to do so, only suffering minor injuries, the same going for the victim. When Robert refuses Raymond's orders to do so again, the latter is angered and fires Robert. From then on, everything in Robert's life spirals downward, forcing him to make some tough decisions. The second chapter named "R.M.F. is Flying", follows the story of Daniel, a police officer who is mourning and suffering with the disappearance of his wife Liz, a marine biologist. When she returns, Daniel is struck by how different habits and even physiological aspects of Liz are different from her wife. He believes this Liz to be another woman, and this paranoia starts eroding his mental health, until a dramatic event occurs while he's on patrol with his partner. His life at home starts taking a dark turn, and he starts asking Liz to perform certain actions, which he believes will prove that she is not his wife after all. The third chapter named "R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich", focuses on Emily and Andrew, who are part of a sex cult. The leaders of the cult, Omi and Aka, demand exclusivity of intercourse, with them alone. Emily and Andrew are currently looking for a woman they believe can reanimate the dead. They eventually come across a woman named Rebecca, who states her twin sister Ruth may well be the person they are looking for. Everything takes a dark turn however, when Joseph, Emily's husband, invites for a visit, drugs her drink, and rapes her while she's unconscious. Emily is expelled from the cult, but decides to buy her way back in, by uncovering if Ruth is indeed who they're looking for.
Creating films in chapters is always challenging, since for all intended purposes it feels as if the director is in reality creating three distinct films, and then trying to woven them together. "Kinds of Kindness" goes back to Yorgos Lanthimos' tone of surreal observations of life, something he did so well in his prior original films that have not been the adaptation of other people's literary works. They're all narratives that feel extreme, but only barely, since so much of what he touches upon harks to the needs of human beings of belonging, of being loved, rewarded and seen by others. These chapters do fall into the trappings of being inhabited by characters that lack certain dimension, which is where the film mostly falters. The tone of balancing a philosophical/ideological statement with believable and fully realized characters isn't really there, even if all chapters are portrayed by an excellent set of actors. Willem Dafoe's characters, much like Hong Chau's are paper thin, even if they are indeed meant to illustrate a concept or humanize a certain type of behaviors. These chapters however, are demonstrative of a writer/director who is able to create a universe of its own, one that is very vivid, even if at times most of that universe may seem repelling. These are all characters that are raw, at times lacking nuance, but they still do demonstrate that stripping away from some sociological traits and polish, everyone is longing for a sense of belonging, even if that comes at a cost for their own decision-making and autonomy. The cast is uniformly great, particularly Jesse Plemons who gets a chance to shine in three very different characters, with apt support from Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, and Hong Chau. The cinematography from Robbie Ryan is solid, as is the score from Jerskin Fendrix. This may not be for everyone, but it is worth watching.
