Kinds of Kindness (2024)

Kinds-of-Kindness-(2024)
Kinds of Kindness (2024)

I wish Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film would have the same appeal and excitement as it does to millions of his fans. However, no one tells me this, but I have seldom understood what he is up to. It happens often that I get in the way of many of his helped obsessions and even his more obvious self-indulgences which are more inscrutable. No question he’s extremely skilled behind the camera. But he uses himself as a barrier to efficient storytelling nowadays especially when he is off a leash.

I can give Lanthimos some credit for some subtlety in his latest picture ‘Kinds of Kindness’, which isn’t as thoroughly numbing as ‘Poor Things’ from last year. However, it gets progressively more discouraging as well. And like the majority of his oeuvre, it conforms quite comfortably to the genre of ‘Greek Weird Wave cinema’ which has been the work of some people. It is a common trait in Lanthimos films to be revolutionary in visuals and ‘Kinds of Kindness’ is no different But it also sees the filmmaker once again too invested in his own offbeat preoccupations to focus on making a more bearable movie.

This movie doesn’t quite reach the bar of meanness and cynicism, but it is well on its way in my opinion. “Kinds of Kindness” is a poorly executed comedy that unfolds as a quick succession of jokes and elements from three different stories. Each one is unique in its content while the same characters can be seen in different settings throughout the film. For some deranged reason, the entire movie seemed like a really dull black comedy, and there were no parts that were even slightly comical. As far as the story is concerned, there is absolutely no aspect of humanity to be found in it.

For example, the first part of the film is called “The Death of R.M.F” which revolves around the character Robert Fletcher (Jesse Plemons). Simple-minded and socially awkward Robert deals with heavy burdens imposed by his boss Raymond (Willem Dafoe). He walks his dog as per their instructions, wears the clothes prescribed, eats specific portion sizes, and even knows when to sleep with his wife SARAH (Hong Chau). But when he gets an order to deliberately injure R.M.F. with his vehicle, things can’t go anywhere but down in his nonsensical world.

Buckle up, folks, because it’s arse-clenching with the next story, “R.M.F. is Flying”. Here, Plemons plays Daniel a cop whose wife Liz (Emma Stone) has been missing after going out to sea for quite a long time. He gets flabbergasted when Liz comes back after being miraculously saved and hasn’t been harmed in any way. Now, Daniel is able to have his wife back, but the pieces of the puzzle are not all there. He starts to see some unusual characteristics that cause him to think that she is not the Liz he used to love. His best buddy Neil (Mamoudou Athie) is trying to reason out with him and telling him that he is being paranoid but Daniel is not impressed. What comes next is horrible, disgusting, and mostly uncalled for.

Finally decency and logic give way to “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich.” In it, Emily (Stone) and Andrew (Plemons) are both members of an unusual beachfront sexual cult spearheaded by Omi (Dafoe) and his wife Aka (Chau). They have moved out in order to discover this particular lady who has the capability of performing resurrection. How come? The story has an angle of prophecy but to be honest the specifics are irrelevant. Emily partially sneaks out in order to leave her daughter’s presents who she abandoned and has now become a vengeful woman. Since they didn’t wish to portray so much anger. this leads to the scene that contains the sole authentic experience of affection throughout the movie. But just for a minute, and soon enough Lanthimos resumes his awful narration with sadism directed specifically against his characters but also against the viewers.

There are some common aspects in all three stories like they share whatever little appeal there is in each of them. The most essential of these is, that nobody on the screen looks anything close to a real person. They are mere soulless shells with one sole purpose to be fed into the Lanthimos meat grinder. Not even a cast that is talented and willing to go all out can in any way withstand Lanthimo’s sadistic treatment. There are some good ideas that are thrown about. However, these ideas get lost along with the ever-declining quality of the plots and what was potentially a mildly entertaining film becomes an excruciatingly tedious experience.

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