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Yorgos Lanthimos' nearly three hour follow-up to his excellent POOR THINGS certainly doesn't lack for ambition (cinematographer Robbie Ryan returns, again shooting on 35mm film, and Jerskin Fendrix provides another funky score). A triptych of loosely connected tales featuring the same core cast, but all but one, playing a different character in each. Willem Dafoe, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemmons, Hong Chau, Margaret Qualley, Mamoudou Athie, and Joe Alwyn are the revolving troupe with Yorgos Stefankos the common thread as the mysterious R.M.F who appears in each segment.
The first story, “The Death Of RMF” is the strongest. Plemmons is a man with the most possessive boss imaginable in Dafoe's Raymond. It plays almost like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents as directed by Luis Bunuel – sharing for example, Bunuel's penchant for using repetition and parallels.
“RMF is Flying” shows a ghoulish reaction to tragedy as Plemmons responds to his wife's apparently miraculous survival on an expedition. Allusions to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Lanthimos' own THE LOBSTER add to the bizarre circumstances. There's a hilarious “home movie” that will change your opinion of such films for some time!
The finale, “RMF Eats A Sandwich”, posits Dafoe and Chau as the leaders of a cult that Stone and Plemmons are dallying with. Even though it's the longest, it feels the least complete of the trio.
KINDS OF KINDNESS isn't a traditional anthology film as there are common themes and the unworldly presence of R.M.F. (at one point, those initials were going to be the title of the film). The common themes include dominance, manipulation and self-control. There are multiple allusions to birth/rebirth and fluid sexuality, as well. Plemmons, Stone and Dafoe are the main actors, but the supporting roles are all well played, particularly Qualley and Alwyn. Stone does have a tendency to be a bit mannered and robotic at times, as if a carry over from POOR THINGS' Bella Baxter.
Lanthimos returns to collaborating on the screenplay here with Efthymis Filippou after working with Tony McNamara on POOR THINGS and THE FAVOURITE (the latter co-written by Deborah Davis). It's a return to Lanthimos' wilder, more unleashed style of his early pictures. For some, that's a good thing, but it does come with a noticeably looser structure and storytelling discipline. The dark humor is there (even if there weren't many laughs in the theater) and Lanthimos certainly gives his actors room to let loose. Which they most certainly do.
Oh, and Definitely stay tuned for the end credits.
KINDS OF KINDNESS is currently streaming on Hulu and available for rental. It's on DVD and Blu Ray. Note: POOR THINGS is also on Hulu
The first story, “The Death Of RMF” is the strongest. Plemmons is a man with the most possessive boss imaginable in Dafoe's Raymond. It plays almost like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents as directed by Luis Bunuel – sharing for example, Bunuel's penchant for using repetition and parallels.
“RMF is Flying” shows a ghoulish reaction to tragedy as Plemmons responds to his wife's apparently miraculous survival on an expedition. Allusions to Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Lanthimos' own THE LOBSTER add to the bizarre circumstances. There's a hilarious “home movie” that will change your opinion of such films for some time!
The finale, “RMF Eats A Sandwich”, posits Dafoe and Chau as the leaders of a cult that Stone and Plemmons are dallying with. Even though it's the longest, it feels the least complete of the trio.
KINDS OF KINDNESS isn't a traditional anthology film as there are common themes and the unworldly presence of R.M.F. (at one point, those initials were going to be the title of the film). The common themes include dominance, manipulation and self-control. There are multiple allusions to birth/rebirth and fluid sexuality, as well. Plemmons, Stone and Dafoe are the main actors, but the supporting roles are all well played, particularly Qualley and Alwyn. Stone does have a tendency to be a bit mannered and robotic at times, as if a carry over from POOR THINGS' Bella Baxter.
Lanthimos returns to collaborating on the screenplay here with Efthymis Filippou after working with Tony McNamara on POOR THINGS and THE FAVOURITE (the latter co-written by Deborah Davis). It's a return to Lanthimos' wilder, more unleashed style of his early pictures. For some, that's a good thing, but it does come with a noticeably looser structure and storytelling discipline. The dark humor is there (even if there weren't many laughs in the theater) and Lanthimos certainly gives his actors room to let loose. Which they most certainly do.
Oh, and Definitely stay tuned for the end credits.
KINDS OF KINDNESS is currently streaming on Hulu and available for rental. It's on DVD and Blu Ray. Note: POOR THINGS is also on Hulu
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