KINDS OF KINDNESS (2024) – Another incomprehensible mess from the director of Poor Things
Rating: ⭐
This is the follow-up to Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ highly successful and acclaimed Poor Things which won his lead actress Emma Stone the Academy Award for Best Actress! If you recall, I hated that movie which not only made little sense to me but was what I felt largely a showcase of excessive (and unnecessary) nudity and sex scenes bordering on vulgarity. In Kinds of Kindness, Yorgos teams up once again here with his favorite actress Emma Stone as well as some fellow alumni from the cast of Poor Things like Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley. Once again, Yorgos’s film had been highly acclaimed by the critics this time winning its lead actor the commendable Jesse Plemons with the coveted Best Actor award from this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Fortunately, this time, we are spared the excess of nudity and sex (relatively), but the level of coherence is still very bad. In fact, this movie made even less sense than Poor Things. Kinds of Kindness is presented as anthology of three separate stories. Each story gets progressively more and more bizarre and absurd which made the viewing an excruciating experience. All three stories have the same cast members playing different roles. I would not attempt to give you an idea of what the stories are about because frankly the level of normal behaviour and simple logic does not apply to anything that is depicted on the screen. To attempt to make sense out of the load of nonsense would be a futile waste of time. While the first story did resemble some sort of a plot, the following two were totally bizarre and out of this world. Nobody in real life talks, behaves, or thinks like the people here. It is like the whole movie was made while under the influence of drugs. I just find it such a waste of the talents of an otherwise stellar cast having to perform with the material here.
I had to google what exactly I could be missing here as I find even the title of the movie makes no sense within the context of the film. The closest revelation was this explanation: “Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness” explores the abusive variables of affection. Comprising three short films following one after the other, “Kinds of Kindness” dives into themes of obsession, religion and companionship through an avante-garde approach” ….. Really?!? I guess if you can honestly get all of that hidden meaning behind the absurdity and weird conduct of all the characters, you might be able to honestly give this a thumbs up.
As for me, this deserves two thumbs down .. way down.