Director Yorgos Lanthimos has taken his audience on many bizarre and exhilarating journeys. From the standpoint of a manipulative in Dogtooth (2009), a place of grieving in Alps (2011), a futuristic hospital in The Lobster (2015), a surgeon making risky choices in The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), an 18th century queen who is tormented in The Favourite (2018), a woman coming back to life in Poor Things (2023), and a theory of strange events in Kinds of Kindness. This film feels like the mosaic of a play because of how the characters play different people in different yet correlated segments. It is crazy how quickly two hours and forty minutes flew by. The unique scenarios and twisted elements made it seem much shorter.
The film begins with the actor Jesse Plemmons, who plays three characters named Robert, Daniel, and Andrew. Although accustomed to a life of wealth, he begins experiencing turmoil due to poor choices by his boss, played by Willem Dafoe. Dafoe also plays three characters named Raymond, George, and Omi. In one segment, Robert is trying to not allow his boss to control his life. However, that causes things to become even worse. Robert’s wife, played by Hong Chau, vanishes. She plays three individuals as well, named Sarah, Sharon, and Aka. These characters are experiencing a variety of tough scenarios and bad episodes.
Lanthimos has created a soap opera of a project divided into three parts. The first part is titled The Death of R.M.F. The second is titled RMF Flying. Finally, the third is called R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich. The first scenario is about trying to overcome power. The second scenario is about someone who believes his wife is an imposter, and the third is about someone who is tryingto find resurrection from the dead. Emma Stone is part of the third scenario with her roles as Rita, Liz, and Emily. As Emily, she is doing the reverse of her previous role in Poor Things because she is now the one involved with the strange task of bringing up the dead.
Another actress who brings heat to the film is Margaret Qualley. In her three roles as Vivian, Martha, and twins Ruth and Rebecca, Qualley is a force of nature. In this film, tensions are bizarre, creepy, and all linked together. It sometimes feels like weird extra-long TV episodes. Lanthimos taps unnerving emotions in Kinds of Kindness. With each character playing different people in different sequences, there are conflicting dynamics and unexpected resolutions.
During the film, the issue of crossed boundaries kept coming to my mind. Many of the events in Kinds of Kindness are based on morals that raise red flags. The realm of a triptych fable is part of the inner complexity of Kinds of Kindness. On some level, the transitions do not feel adequate in the context of believability.
The title itself sets the tone of interesting thoughts and motives. Kinds of Kindness is a cat-and-mouse game that has deadly circumstances. Does it execute well? I felt the writing fell flat at times. Lanthimos can do bizarre right, but can he diversify it effectively? The slew of events led to confusion as scenes meant to be enticing became blurred. Kinds of Kindness is a film of endurance, but it tries too hard so is not a masterpiece. There are too many dots to connect and limited flow with the mixture of characters. Two-and-a-half out of four stars.
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