54833: Kinds of Kindness

When I was a young kid, my mom told me about a sprawling piece of pop art that captured her generation's imagination, and inspired countless hours of discussion and dissection in dorm rooms and coffee houses throughout the nation as the country's youths attempted to parse the layers of meaning and history hinted at in its rich, allegorical text. It was "American Pie." The song and not the movie, in case that wasn't clear. Whatever you may think about "American Pie," it succeeds in creating the ruins of a world all its own, and leaves enough bricks laying about for interested listeners to move about and rearrange and just generally play with. In creating Kinds of Kindness, writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos, with co-writer Efthimis Filippou, is similarly successful in creating his own precious world (or worlds, rather) for viewers to delve into and devour in search of a deeper meaning that may or may not be there. Kinds of Kindness is gorgeous, and cringe-inducing. It is bloody, and hilarious, and agonizing, and lush, and stark, and so much more. Given the running time of 165 minutes, Kinds of Kindness is able to cover many bases.

In terms of form, Kinds of Kindness is quite bold for a big-budget film. It is broken into three distinct stories, told consecutively, and starring the same actors in each story, but as different characters. Each story delves into a wide range of themes, but what kept coming through to me was the idea of control, and how love is a means of maintaining that control over others, either by withholding affection or letting it freely flow as the situation calls for it. Without spoiling too much of the plot(s), Kinds of Kindness introduces us to a series of sexed-up control freaks and shows us what happens when their control is threatened. It's not pretty, but it is fascinating to watch. Well, the actors are pretty, which helps to highlight the unsettling elements of the plots as they play out.

Emma Stone continues to be absolutely fearless as an actor, as does Jesse Plemons. The choices they make in Kinds of Kindness are thrilling to watch, and the strength with which they tether their outlandish stories to grounded, human experience, is a real treat. Willem Dafoe is amazing, as always, mixing the stern, exacting demeanor of a patriarch with the open, boundless sexuality of a bonobo. It boggles my mind that his only major acting prizes are from the Independent Spirit Awards. Give him an Oscar, already.

Back to the gestalt of it all. Essentially, through Kinds of Kindness, Lanthimos shows us that fucked up dynamics are hiding just beneath the surface of otherwise normal-seeming relationships, and he's not interested in being subtle or sly about it. Rather, he uses heightened, absurd situations to make very grounded, relatable points about human relationships. But you've gotta get through the absurdity first.

I'm a fan of this film, from start to finish. Even with its lengthy runtime, nothing felt wasted or bloated, and I enjoyed seeing the cast get the room to bounce off of each other as new characters and explore new dynamics throughout the movie.  The score, by Jerskin Fendrix, was entrancing and unsettling, just like the rest of the film. Lanthimos also makes great use of popular music, ushering in the movie with Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams," setting the stage for dream logic, abuse, longing, love, the whole thing.

I really think that, perhaps, the less said about Kinds of Kindness, the better. Experience it for yourself, and stick around for the mid-credits scene. It's not hyping the next cycle of the MCU, but it does put a nice (confusing) bow on Kinds of Kindness, which is itself a kind of kindness.