As “Poor Things” swept through the festival circuit, recruiting more devotees into the fold of the “Greek Weird Wave,” Yorgos Lanthimos was already finishing his next cinematic venture. “Kinds of Kindness” presents a conceptual exploration of the nature of manipulative behavior, pushing it, weirdly, beyond theextremes. Co-written by Lanthimos and his longtime associate Efthymis Filippou (the minds behind “Dogtooth” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”), the screenplay unfolds in three novellas: “The Death of R.M.F.,” “R.M.F. is Flying,” “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich.”
Still from “Kind Of Kindness”
In this three-course dinner, the appetizer serves up total control: an architectural firm employee willingly acts as a puppet for apowerful boss, only to briefly rebel; his bid for liberation spirals into a chaotic descent, revealing how submission and dependence havecomfortably settled into the psyche of the born clerk. The main course presents a toxic stew of abusive relationships: a policeman, reunited with his wife after her miraculous return from a deserted island, notices unsettling changes in her behavior (a newfound love for once-hated chocolate); the resolution hinges on cannibalistic urges (“I need something filling,your liver, let’s say; it’s full of iron, liver”). For dessert, we are treated tobrainwashing with a sprinkle of the miraculous: devoted followers of a saltwater cult traverse the American hinterland in a sports car, seeking a girl with resurrection powers, while their guru cavorts in his villa, clad in a Speedo andbedding all comers.
Still from “Kind Of Kindness”
Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, and Willem Dafoe embody the contrasting roles in each of these claustrophobic fever dreams, supported by Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, and Mamoudou Athie. Their transformations and persistent duality underscore the artifice of modern social constructs, where absurdity reigns supreme. The film’s connective tissue is the semi-anonymous and entirely optional character R.M.F. (initially these three letters were intended as the film’s title until vetoed by producers)—an omniscient observer of chaos, or perhaps the arbiter of the characters’ fates. In general, “Kinds of Kindness” invites a multitude of interpretations, weaving together ancient tragedy, dystopian discourse, social experimentation, and an almanac of psychological aberrations, punctuated by recurring motifs ofprophetic dreams, derivatives of “fuck,” omelettes, and polygamy.
Still from “Kind Of Kindness”
Lanthimos daringly challenges his audience with the hallmarks of the “Greek Weird Wave”: characters’ unpredictable behavioral twists,disregard for cause-and-effect, elements of body horror, and an omnipresent tone of anxiety. Even innocuous scenes, like a cage of parrots, arecharged with tension, underscored by dissonant piano chords. For Lanthimos, however, this is no longer an experiment in the vein of “The Lobster,” but rather a cascade of refined techniques.
Still from “Kind Of Kindness”
While “Kinds of Kindness” may not scale the aesthetic heights of Lanthimos’ previous opus, this is understandable; “Poor Things” elevated stylization to such cult-like status (each frame a potential desktop wallpaper) that it defies transposition to semi-realistic matters. The Cannes-2024 jury, recognizing this nuance, choseinstead to honor Plemons’s performance (who would have thought that among the alumni of “Friday Night Lights”, his star would ascend the highest?).
Still from “Kind Of Kindness”
Reuniting with Filippou after two costumed sagas (“The Favourite” and “Poor Things”), Lanthimos returns to the territory of existential absurdism. “Kinds of Kindness” emerges as a hostile planet, where the laws of logicfluctuate wildly, occasionally ceasing to function altogether. Surviving in this toxic atmosphere challenges not only the characters but seemingly the creators themselves: the absurdity resists molding and defies reductionto a common denominator. It is itself a manipulative force, alien to dimensions of meaning and, of course, to any kinds of kindness.
