Review: Kinds of Kindness

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos

Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou

Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau

Rating: [3/5]

From the onset, anthology films already have a disadvantage with me as a viewer, as I will always prefer one cohesive story rather than a bunch of shorts tied together under an overarching theme. If I wanted to watch a short film I would do that instead, but some have worked for me if they can provide these bite-sized pieces in a digestible manner that suits other filmmakers. However, not for a filmmaker like Yorgos Lanthimos whose style grates on audience sensibilities already but dragged out in this manner does no favors. 

Split into three stories with the first following Robert Fletcher (Jesse Plemons) as a man who follows the orders of his boss to the tee not only in the workplace but also his personal life. Then we have the tale of police officer Daniel (Jesse Plemons) miraculously has his wife, Liz (Emma Stone), return after being lost at sea for quite some time but he cannot reconcile certain changes he sees in her that make no sense. It then concludes with Emily (Emma Stone) and Andrew (Jesse Plemons) who participate in a cult in search for a specific woman who can heal and perform miracles. 

With my general feelings of anthology films being stern, I have still found enjoyment in some done well like Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch or the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs but each of them had more purely comedic stories at the center of them and the whole experience for either did not venture beyond 130 minutes. The right amount of storytelling that does not tell something overall cohesive but still individually enjoyable, as those particular filmmakers have proven. Lanthimos, for all of his greatness as a filmmaker, does not make enjoyable films and with him throwing in three strange and grating shorts together into an anthology that reaches an eye-watering 165 minutes, it just becomes far too much to take in. 

Critiquing this film comes as a strange task seeing as I had no real issues with the individual stories themselves but rather the structure of this entire project. Viewing each individual tale, they each have their distinguishable comedy and all could have benefitted from operating as their own feature films where we could hunker down and really dig into the core of their stories. Unfortunately, they get short-changed in the process and having them rammed together allows the third one, even with its quality, feel like quite the chore to get through as we’re nearing three hours now of these stories that challenge our sensibilities and ways we process stories, which Lanthimos always does with success but this method just did not work. 

Even with all of that criticism, so many positives exist within these three features and the individual themes they explore. As with any anthology, everyone has their favorites. I found the first (“The Death of R.M.F”) and third (“R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich”), ones to work out the best with the runtime they received. The second one, “R.M.F. is Flying” suffered the most in that it needed much more runway to really delve into the strange situation of a man being unsure if the woman who returned is actually his wife. Almost like a nightmare scenario of Cast Away that feels underdeveloped. “The Death of R.M.F” delves into so fascinating power dynamics about a boss and his employee that displays a degree of control and fealty that can really hit home for people. “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich” feels the kookiest of them all in its involvement in a sex cult and plenty of strangeness that we can expect from a Lanthimos film that serves as both the funniest and darkest tale of the three, which makes its choice as the third and final of the anthology an intentional decision. 

If anything, the anthology set up does give these actors the ability to really try different things with the various characters they get to portray and this cast certainly took advantage of this situation. Each actor could get their own write-up on the fun they’re having with these characters but the two stand out amongst the rest because of the amount of screen time they receive and how they waste none of it. Jesse Plemons deserves all the plaudits in the way he magnificently captures such an awkwardness like no other and then we have Emma Stone, whose collaborations with Lanthimos needs no further comment. She has delivered career-best work with her previous two films with him and she delivers yet another banger here. 

Each story within Kinds of Kindness has something of value in the way it dissects human relations and the way control and love often play together in a fairly toxic way. This cast delivers incredible work as they buy into the weirdness of a Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou collaboration and for as much as I can appreciate these aspects the whole project as a whole cannot overcome the restriction by the anthology structure. Far too long with each story having much more it could explore leaving this a project that has its value but just set itself to not capture its full potential.