Aqib Rasheed
Love him or hate him, Yorgos Lanthimos is committed to the bit. The bit, of course, is creating some of the most singular pieces of cinema of the past 15 years. Sure, there have been dark comedies, yet not as dark as his. Sure, there have been awkward moments in films, but not as awkward as his. Sure, there have been some weird movies in the past decade, but not nearly as weird as his. Some may find his filmmaking indulgent or exhausting. To me, it’s a feat of artistic expression. Lanthimos’ films are so unabashedly him, fearless of what general audiences might think. The concept of accessibility doesn’t even cross his mind. He knows the real sickos will show up no matter what.
His latest, Kinds of Kindness, might be his sickest movie yet. Those who thought Poor Things crossed a line with its sex scenes aren’t ready for what the Greek Freak has in store for them. This one feels like a response to the backlash of his previous Oscar winner. As hard as it may be to believe, Poor Things was a “one for us.” That was Lanthimos being conventional, mainstream, whatever you want to call it. The anthology Kinds of Kindness reunites Lanthimos with his longtime screenwriter Efthymis Filippou, and the two echo back to the days of The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, creating an off-kilter, uncomfortable, yet profoundly engaging parables about servitude and how nice is too nice.
The triad of stories features the same actors—Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, Margaret Qualley, Mamoudou Athie, and Joe Alwyn (Hunter Schafer features in a small role for one story)—playing different characters in each story. Despite some themes and the actors, the stories share no narrative connectivity. Short description of each chapter wouldn’t reveal much, yet this is a movie that should be watched with minimal background information. Each tale has twists and turns you will not see coming and people should go experience them as blind as possible.
Lanthimos’ two collaborations with Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Poor Things) allowed him to explore European baroqueness, taking his quirky sensibilities to Queen Anne and a timeless era of female exploration. He was able to expand his visual language, whether it be the elaborate sets or stunning costumes. The writing didn’t have to be as weird because the landscape of the films were quite odd to begin with. With Kinds of Kindness, that landscape is stripped down. Gone are Bella Baxter’s gowns and art-deco sets, as we are back in contemporary times. People are wearing suits and T-shirts and driving normal cars. This is far from normal. In fact, this is Lanthimos’ most inaccessible and weirdest film to date. The modern setting makes the kookiness even more jarring. He puts his characters in the oddest situations in settings we recognize. Outlandish, it feels more real than ever.
The reason why it feels so real is because the central thesis of Kinds of Kindness is something many can relate to. How far will our drive to be kind, to be liked, or to be accepted take us? We find ourselves in situations where people take advantage of our niceness. Often, we have the ability to take a step back and remove ourselves from these situations. Yorgos Lanthimos asks in this wonderful film, what if people didn’t step back? What if those taking advantage went to ruthless lengths? To some, there is a boundary line that shouldn’t be crossed. Lanthimos wants us to imagine a world where that line doesn’t exist. He makes the audience squirm, laugh, and look in shock and awe at these absurd situations, somehow weirder than the burping mechanism Willen Dafoe used in Poor Things.
The people who were “offended” by Poor Things should steer clear of Kinds of Kindness. Some of the Hollywood cardinal sins are in these stories. Things you would consider as big no-nos are shockingly present. Some may find this gratuitous while others will find it to be a testament to Yorgos Lanthimos’ sheer will in doing whatever he wants. The filmmaker starts off relatively tame with the first chapter. As soon as it ends, the audience knows it’s about to be much more peculiar. At nearly three hours, this is his longest movie to date, and that’s notable. You feel the long running time, not because the narrative or pace drags, but because he makes you fester in the uncomfortableness. Each segment has the weight of a full-length movie but, instead of leaving the theater, you start another story. And you ask yourself, “Can it get any weirder?” To that, Lanthimos says resoundingly, “Absolutely.”
Even with its boldness, Kinds of Kindness has the same issues most anthologies have. You will like some stories more than others. You wish one was the whole movie while others were completely cut out, and etc. There is enough meat on the bone to make these individual stories into full movies, which would also allow some of the actors in smaller roles to shine more. There’s a bit of a miniseries quality to the structure of Kinds of Kindness only to see it gravitate itself closer to a more traditional construction. It didn’t deter me too much in enjoying this film, but I hope this was more of an experiment for Lanthimos, rather than a format he will return to.
As much as this movie’s success is Yorgos Lanthimos’ unique vision, Jesse Plemons is the perfect avatar for him to play with and make the star of the show. To be the standout in an anthology is a tall task, let alone this one where you have to play three different characters. Plemons delivers what is so far the performance of the year, in my eyes. Many have said we now have the heir to the legendary Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Plemons, and I couldn’t agree more. Hoffman was a true character actor who was easily the best part of any movie he was in. Even in bad ones, he was a true standout.
Jesse Plemons is having the same type of career and impact. He is an incredibly strong dramatic actor (see: The Power of the Dog), but his bread and butter is being a character actor. He’s in one scene of Civil War, where he is so menacing and frightening in that single sequence, that it’s worth the price of admission. He gets to play three wildly different people in Kinds of Kindness and aces each one. His deadpan delivery, comic timing, and even physical acting are on another level. His ability in this movie to make the audience forget about his previous character and focus on the new one we’re seeing is impressive. With some actors, it’s hard to remove their stardom from the characters they play. With Jesse Plemons, we only see the character because of his dedication and commitment to sinking into the role. You can make a strong argument that he is the most talented male actor in Hollywood right now. He truly matched Lanthimos’ freakishness here.
Kinds of Kindness is Emma Stone’s third collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos (with more to come), and these two get each other. There’s Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro, Sofia Coppola/Kirsten Dunst, Christopher Nolan/Cillian Murphy, Mel Brooks/Gene Wilder, Quentin Tarantino/Samuel L. Jackson, and now Emma Stone/Yorgos Lanthimos. We need to start thinking of this pairing with some of the greats mentioned. Lanthimos understands that Stone is one of the funniest actresses who can also go pound-for-pound with anyone in terms of drama. His unique tone allows her to do both comedy and drama with a great deal of success.
Emma’s biggest role in Kinds of Kindness comes in the third story (compared to the other two where Plemons is undoubtedly the lead) where she is as hilarious as she is tragic. Everyone who has seen the clip of her dancing to Cobrah’s “Brand New Bitch” are not ready for the scene right after it (which may be the hardest I’ve laughed all year). Bella Baxter was a transcendent performance and rightfully won her an Oscar, so anything that was going to follow that up would inevitably pale in comparison. That shouldn’t take away from the fact that Stone is excellent in this movie and, hands down, the biggest A-List actress in the industry.
Aside from the two leads, the other actors have relatively small roles, but the one who makes an impact is Willem Dafoe. Half of the amazing appeal of his performances in Kinds of Kindness comes from the costumes he’s wearing. He goes from suits to extremely short khakis to a bikini bottom. In the first and third stories, Lanthimos asks him to do some crazy things, and Dafoe is up for it. He’s truly one of the greats, and I hope to see more of him and Yorgos Lanthimos in the future.
Whether or not this movie will have broad appeal remains to be seen. There may be a world in which people will go see this because of the Poor Things post-Oscars hype for Lanthimos and Stone or, just as easily, mainstream audiences could reject this for being too weird. This is not recommended to someone agnostic to Lanthimos’s cinema or is Lanthimocurious. However, for those who love the Freaky Greek’s awkward world—the real sickos—Kinds of Kindness is a bizarre treat. It’s nasty, bleak, hilarious, and absurd, making it 100% Yorgos Lanthimos.
