A One Mann’s Movies review of “Kinds of Kindness” (2024).
If director Yorgos Lanthimos might have been referred for a psyche ward after doctors viewed the manic energy of “Poor Things“, “Kinds of Kindness” would have got the doors locked and bolted! At times, it is seriously ‘out there’. But it’s undeniably a brilliant cinema ‘experience’ however you choose to take it.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Note: ‘In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king’
I went into this film blissfully unaware of the film’s structure or content and it was a delight to sit there, utterly bemused, as the film unfolded. As there is information about the film’s shape and content in here, if you want to go in equally cold then stop reading now!
Plot Summary:
A businessman, whose life is fully pre-ordained, is cast adrift; a cop is struggling to cope with the loss of his wife on a reef-diving trip; and a woman searches for a prophesised twin who can raise the dead. (Yeah… quite!)
Certification:
UK: 18; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Sexual violence, brief strong sex”.)
Talent:
Starring: Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Yorgos Stefanakos, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, Joe Alwyn.
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos.
Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou.
Twitter Handle: #KindsOfKindness.
Running Time: 2h 44m.
“Kinds of Kindness” Summary:
Positives:
- From the insistent Dave Stewart opening beats over the Searchlight Pictures logo, the film oozes style from every pore.
- It’s delightful to see Jesse Plemons in a leading role for once.
- The film is laugh-out-loud funny in places (albeit that comedy is often VERY black!)
Negatives:
- This is the epitome of a Marmite movie: many viewers will, I predict, simply hate some of the content in here which they will find either too gross, too violent, too sexually explicit or all of the above.
- At two and three-quarter hours, if you don’t like it you’ll find it interminable.
Review of “Kinds of Kindness”:
Sweet dreams are made of this.
Annie Lennox belts out The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” over the opening credits and almost feels like an anthem tying the diverse stories together. Because, in terms of the structure of the film, this is a portmanteau movie consisting of three separate stories, all starring the same group of actors.
Story One – “Some of them want to abuse you; some of them want to be abused”
Story One, in my view, was the strongest of the three. It was strong enough I think to have been extended to be a standalone 90 minute feature film. Robert (Jesse Plemons) is married to Sarah (Hong Chau) but his life is not his own. He is a marionette to his eccentric boss Raymond (Willem Dafoe). Despite lauding him and his wife with exotic gifts – McEnroe’s smashed racket!; Lauda’s charred helmet! – he is a caged man. Unfortunately, he has done this for so long that when cut free he can no longer function. Plemons plays this to perfection. There’s a wonderful scene where he asks a barman (Kencil Mejia) for a drink and has no idea what specific drink to order: he asks the barman to choose!
Emma Stone plays a new love interest called Rita, but she is in a relatively minor role and Plemons is the star. That’s so unusual and very much welcome…. normally Plemons is in very much a supporting role (albeit brilliantly done … remember his roles in “The Power of the Dog“; “Killers of the Flower Moon” and (even more remarkably) the recent “Civil War“?)
Story Two – “Who am I to disagree?”
Story Two is much weirder. Plemons plays a cop, Daniel, who is grieving the apparent loss of his wife Liz (Stone) on a scientific diving trip. When Liz magically turns up, unharmed, Daniel gets it into his head that she is an imposter. (It reminded me of the Richard Gere/Jodie Foster film “Sommersby”.) This is despite the fact that she looks and acts just like Liz. In addition, her father (Willem Dafoe) and her close (very close!!) friends Martha (Margaret Qualley) and Neil (Mamoudou Athie) all accept her.
This one really does feel like an episode of the Twilight Zone. It’s full of very dark comedy and we go into some very perverse culinary areas! (Shades of Monty Python’s “Meaning of Life” here.) Plemons and Stone pretty well share the acting honours in this one.
The story ends with an hilarious, and sometimes very upsetting, montage of ‘Isle of Dogs’ inhabitants that are some of the images that stick in your head on the way home. Bonkers!
Story Three – “Everybody’s looking for something”
The scripting of this one is not quite as tight as the other two, but it’s still an intriguing little tale. Emma Stone really takes the lead here as Emily: a fast-driving and obsessive searcher for a prophesised surviving twin who can raise the dead.
There is much macabre morgue humour in this one, but the wrapping of this quest into the ‘Moonies’ style sect (run by Omi (Dafoe) and Aka (Hong Chau)) didn’t quite gel for me. That being said, Emma Stone is magnificent and the wonderful Margaret Qualley gets a double bite at the acting apple playing both of the twins, Rebecca and Ruth. A swan-dive into a pool by a naked Qualley is a ‘movie-memory-moment’.
Also worth praising is the bizarre ‘success dance’ done by Emma Stone near the end and the shocking final shot. Another “Twilight Zone” twist, fully laced with irony.
Marmite movie
You are likely to love this one or absolutely hate it – I suspect there’s not much middle ground. There were only three other people in my late night screening, and they all stayed. But I would predict that the walk-out rate on this one might be quite high. Fair enough, since at nearly three hours, if you are seriously not enjoying the experience, that’s a long time to be suffering in silence.
Triggers
It’s an ’18’ certificate film, so you should know that there is going to be some severe content. But in terms of specific triggers:
- There is a ‘date-rape’ scene in the film.
- Dog-lovers should be aware that there is a deliberate act of injury made against a stray dog in the film. Also one of the “Isle-of-Dogs” shots is a particularly upsetting image of a ‘dog-suicide’.
Monkeys?
There is a “monkey” during the end-credits, which I think is a bit unusual for a Lanthimos film. It’s an additional scene featuring the very much alive “R.B.F.”.
Summary Thoughts on “Kinds of Kindness”
I’ve often bemoaned how much of cinema is so bland, monotonous and predictable. You can never really accuse Yorgos Lanthimos of that, with a CV that includes “The Lobster“, “The Favourite“, “Poor Things” and now “Kinds of Kindness” (though, I believe, this film was actually shot ahead of “Poor Things” and has just taken a lot longer to come out). You know you’ve had a cinematic experience when you stagger out of this one, a little bit shell-shocked. The usher on the way out asked if I’d enjoyed it. Rather like my recent viewing of “The Beast“, I didn’t have a clear answer for him. But with retrospect, yes, I really think I did.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Kinds of Kindness”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGOL2_mI9Hw. Note this is the red band trailer so contains bad language.
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