'Kinds of Kindness' Review: Yorgos Lanthimos Enters the Twilight Zone
The "Poor Things" director's anthology film is a wild hodgepodge of thought-provoking tales
After winning four Oscars in March for his sci-fi feature Poor Things, many were shocked that director Yorgos Lanthimos already had his new feature filmed and ready for release. Dropping a Lanthimos joint in the heart of summer is definitely a choice, but there’s really no way to prep an audience for what Kinds of Kindness is. An anthology film looking at three stories of wild characters trying to find meaning at the expense of their own autonomy, it’s doubtful an audience will enjoy the entirety of the film as a whole, instead gravitating to one or two of the stories that encapsulate the near three-hour runtime.
If you loved Poor Things or The Favourite you’ll probably struggle with Kinds of Kindness as the director and cowriter, alongside Efthimis Filippou, forsakes a conventional narrative in favor of three individual vignettes bound together by one character who briefly appears in all three stories, as well as overarching themes about people’s ability to subvert their own happiness to please others. All three situations are wild and only have the bare modicum of story, compelling the audience to fill in the “whys” that drive the characters to make certain decisions.
The first story, entitled “The Death of R.M.F.,” follows Robert (Jesse Plemons), a man whose every move is dictated by his boss, Raymond (Willem Dafoe). But when Robert decides to defy one of Raymond’s order it turns Robert’s life upside-down. Plemons is the MVP of Kinds of Kindness, playing three different characters attempting to hold it together in spite of surreal events. “The Death of R.M.F.” gives him the grandest opportunity to do that — his role gets smaller and smaller in every subsequent vignette. He plays the character as increasingly pathetic, treating Raymond’s lack of interest in him like a lover scorned; Lanthimos does a fantastic job of creating a polyamorous, pansexual world with all his characters.
It’s never stipulated what the roles of this world are and why Raymond controls everyone around him. At a certain point, as Robert starts to feel more and more adrift in society, it’s implied that everyone in town (maybe the world?) is just being controlled by Raymond. Lanthimos’ script gets heady about God, religion, and how we’re so hellbent on making sense of crazy things. But with “The Death of R.M.F.” he kookily explores how content we are to give up our autonomy for the finer things. Robert sees a smashed tennis racket once owned by John McEnroe to be the pinnacle of success, and it’s the first thing he tries to steal when he feels he’s been replaced.
Plemons dominates this first sequence, although he’s complemented by Dafoe and Margaret Qualley. Dafoe is especially strong as a man who controls through educating; he’s simply trying to make everyone’s life better. Some added depth might have been nice, but the script isn’t particularly interested in presenting these characters as anything beyond who they are right at the moment.
Plemons shines strongest in “R.M.F. Is Flying,” the film’s second story. He plays a police officer named Daniel whose wife, Liz, has been lost at sea. He spends his days pining over his missing wife and making his best friends watch the homemade porn they’ve all made together “to remember her by.” The return of Liz (Emma Stone) doesn’t make Daniel’s life better, though, as he becomes convinced his wife isn’t actually his wife. That and he starts to garner a hankering for human flesh.
“R.M.F. Is Flying” is the strongest of the three, albeit it doesn’t have as complete a story as the final chapter, “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich.” Plemons and Stone have the opportunity to bounce off each other; he as the suspicious, paranoid husband and her as the complacent, possibly alien, newcomer. This is easily the one to be deconstructed the most. My movie guest and I spent a long time after discussing whether Daniel had reason to believe Liz isn’t actually his wife or not. If you enjoy Plemons’ ability to be normal while saying something horrible, this is for you. It’s amazing how nonchalant he is asking Stone’s Liz to cook him one of her fingers, “maybe a thumb,” with some cauliflower. The theme here is also the most overt: that our desire to showcase our love for others can leave us literally carving out parts of ourselves to please.
The first three installments move gracefully, but by the time the third installment arrives you might be fidgeting. “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich” feels like the longest of the trio and is also the most complete story. Stone plays Emily, a member of a cult-like religion seeking a woman who can resurrect the dead and fulfill a prophecy. The humor here is the most absurd but the weirdness of the organization they belong to is fascinating.
It’s where Dafoe and Hong Chau, playing the leaders of the group, get to shine, particularly Chau who spends most of the vignette licking sweat off people’s stomachs. The problem lies in a rather abrupt violation of Stone’s character that sees Emily get thrown out of the cult. The script never deals with the fact that her character endures sexual assault, instead content to see her just try to get back in. But we get the Emma Stone dance, which is funny!
It’ll be interesting to see how mainstream audiences take to Kinds of Kindness, particularly post-Poor Things. Lanthimos doesn’t make things easy with an audacious, esoteric exploration of humanity and society. Plemons, Dafoe and Stone are great, but the three-hour runtime and level of absurdity might test the audiences’ kindness.
Kinds of Kindness is in theaters June 21.