Ah, the anthology/vignette film. The generous might say: how ambitious, tying a bunch of small films together thematically in fascinating ways! The cynical might point out that someone is tying a bunch of half-formed ideas into a cynical combination that’s bound to disappoint cause one of the vignettes is gonna suck. Kinds of Kindness’s half full outlook: Yorgos Lanthimos and his committed cast at least make each of the 3 sections watchable…but we’re also half empty, not in the normal anthology film ways, but in new, Lanthimos centric ones.
The 3 different, about 50 min long sections feature Willem Dafoe, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hong Chau, and Yorgos Stefanakos dealing with R.M.F., a lynchpin figure in each of the 3 sections, either 1) His Death, 2) Him Flying, or 3) Eating a Sandwich. All the actors take various leading/supporting parts in each section, stitched together with that Yorgos Lanthimos something that he possesses and no other filmmaker working today can quite replicate.
The effectiveness of each of the 3 sections of Kinds of Kidness relies on tethering. If the movie at least feels somewhat grounded in a reality we can understand, the section works. If not? We spend too much of the runtime setting up the world and rush to the ending where the payoff isn’t as good. As such, the death of R.M.F. is just about office culture, and really hits hard for anyone who’s aspiring to be the boss but is stuck in a life of perpetual servitude. Ironically, the two Emma Stone led sections are the least successful despite the Lanthimos/Stone partnership power. The R.M.F. sandwich is most interesting: mildly fantastical but emotionally clear in its messaging because of Emma Stone’s performance. And flying R.M.F. needs more time: it’s The Lobster lite and doesn’t quite work because it’s off in cukcoo land.
The basic theme across the 3 Kinds of Kindness stories is the Greek economic system. Ok, that’s not true, but Lanthimos, Athens born, feels inspired by the institutional crumble and distrust that have taken hold of Greece and the world over the last decade. R.M.F. goes through deep introspections of worklife, marriage, and religion in each sequence. Lanthimos’s general nihilism slowly consumes the film, using all that direct, emotionless dialogue he writes to consuming effect. Yorgos tries to offset movie’s numbing effects with blunt, brutal violence or sexual acts, which only further cements his pessimistic, cruel joke of his movie title. Yes, there are moments of brilliance and excellence, but overall this whole exercise feels hollow and empty, leaving a queasy feeling as you leave the theater even after the Emma Stone dance.
Turns out, no matter what type of film he’s making, Yorgos is gonna Yorgos. So, if you love his strange wavelength he’s putting out into theaters, you’re gonna feel like you got 3 films for the price of 1. If you’re one the fence like I am, the 3 films you got are the 3 hobbit movies: some kind of good stuff surrounded by self-important garbage. That’s a little mean, but I’m not a nihilist, ergo, I could never lead a Kinds of Kindness film. I believe too much in real kindness.