It could be fair to argue that Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos changed his direction of travel from delivering unsettling arthouse pieces dubbed the Greek Weird Wave by critics, to focussing on a somewhat mainstream pathway with Oscar-dominating works such as The Favourite and Poor Things.
However, it may be a stretch to label these two films as such due to Lanthimos’ signatory provocative style injected into them, bringing a feeling of discomfort to a mainstream audience.
But Kinds of Kindness brings a halt to the direction we presumed Lanthimos was heading for.
This latest work is somewhat of a welcome familiar return to the surreal, odd, and experimental nature that defined his early works, mostly reminiscent of Dogtooth.
If you were only familiar with Lanthimos’ work through The Favourite and Poor Things, then Kinds of Kindness may shock the system.
Kinds of Kindness is built up of three individual stories performed by the same actors. The first, ‘The Death of RMF’, the strongest out of the three, focusses on a man played by Jesse Plemons whose life is under the tight control of an emotionally manipulative boss (Willem Dafoe) who puts him on the quest of crashing his car into another driver, hoping for a fatal outcome.
But after failed attempts and an urge to escape, his life becomes unstable as his boss withdraws his ‘love’ for him.
Secondly, in ‘RMF is flying’, we focus on a couple whose relationship is disturbed after Daniel (Jesse Plemons) suspects Liz (Emma Stone) is not the same person when she returns home from supposedly being missing at sea.
And lastly, in ‘RMF Eats a Sandwich’ possibly the most experimental, surreal, and weakest entry, focusses on a woman who is part of a cult as she attempts to find an individual who she believes can resurrect the dead.
Don’t be fooled by the title, all three of these works are anything but kind. Kinds of Kindness explores the cruelty of human behaviour but highlights how its ugliness can lead to an affection that we all instinctively need.
Kinds of Kindness: Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons with director Yorgos Lanthimos
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The cruelty, however, brings with it some welcome amusement, if your sense of humour edges towards dark.
Emma Stone yet again delivers a performance with superb comical delivery in her characters.
It's joyous to re-experience after her recent Oscar-winning performance as Bella Baxter in Poor Things.
Stone also has the privilege of carrying out two acts of violence using a knife that is bound to make the audience wince.
No matter how welcome it may be to see current Hollywood A-listers carry out Lanthimos’ dark and twisted old roots, it doesn’t quite hold as one of his best works.
The nearly three-hour runtime doesn’t fly by too swiftly despite being broken into three parts.
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Kinds of Kindness: Jesse Plemons takes on the roles of Robert, Daniel and Andrew
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By the third story, your patience may be tested mainly due to its plot which feels disjointed in its narrative directions compared to the other two tales.
Perhaps it was Lanthimos’ goal to always return to his original style, using his diversion into the mainstream to attract higher budgets for his most audacious projects.
If that is the intention then I respect and admire the technique and hope to see more challenging works from him.
However, if they continue with the same mediocrity of Kinds of Kindness, perhaps he may be better off following and building on the light he shone on his artistic prestige with Poor Things.
