Despite its weird and oftentimes head-scratching moments, one thing is clear: Kinds of Kindness is made by a man who absolutely loves cinema. Yorgos Lanthimos, director of my favorite film The Lobster–as well as Academy Award-winning Poor Things and The Favourite–cooks up a smorgasbord of eccentricity and kookiness in his latest work, Kinds of Kindness. It does have a lengthy runtime of 2 hours and 45 minutes but the film surprisingly breezes by with uncompromising energy. Kinds of Kindness is a film you may not completely understand, but it’s surely one you will not forget.

The Less You Know, The Better

Like a gothic Wes Anderson anthology on ketamine, Kinds of Kindness is a very different movie for Lanthimos. Instead of following a traditional narrative structure, the film is broken up into three distinct short films that seem to have no correlation to each other. The cast includes Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, and Joe Alwyn (with a brief appearance by Hunter Schafer). The actors appear in each film but play different characters, completely unrelated to each other. It’s quite engaging and often hilarious, much like how the cast of SNL fluidly jumps in and out of different scenes and personas.

The first in the anthology, “The Death of R.M.F.,” tells the story of a wayward man (Plemons) who struggles to regain control of his life, ultimately facing the mercy of his unsympathetic boss (DaFoe). In the second film, “R.M.F. is Flying”, a police officer (Plemons) is reunited with his wife (Stone) but questions whether the woman really is who she claims to be. The third film, “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich”, stars Plemons and Stone again, this time as brainwashed cult followers who are on a mission to find the next spiritual prodigy. Of all three films, the second one stands out as most in line with Lanthimos’ earlier Greek “weird wave” classics. Emma Stone’s physical comedy shines here, proving that her partnership with Yorgos Lanthimos continues to strike gold.

Despite the seemingly incompatible narratives, some common themes and symbols are present. The purpose of dreams, fragility of identity, sexual exploration, and vulnerability in the form of walking barefoot appear in various ways throughout the film.

Riding the Greek Weird Wave

Lanthimos and co-screenwriter Efthimis Filippou re-team with many familiar faces from their recent Oscar-winning Poor Things (I can’t imagine how everyone had time to make this movie in between production and awards campaigning!). In addition to Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, he notably enlists cinematographer Robbie Ryan, editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, composer Jerskin Fendrix, and sound designer Johnnie Burn to help bring Kinds of Kindness to aesthetic perfection. It’s worth pointing out that, unlike the sonically flamboyant score in Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix takes a much more restrained approach here. All three films embody the same off-key, eerie piano melody, akin to if your cat started walking across a keyboard.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ love affair with the craft is on full display, enough to make every cinephile giddy with excitement. There is enough of his classic styling, like signature angular framing and intense closeups, to allow fans to find comfort in the familiarity and just enough disruption to push boundaries. All that to say, Kinds of Kindness isn’t exactly an “enjoyable” movie to watch, rather, it’s wholly fascinating. The distinction here is specific; it’s not a film I’m rushing to rewatch soon but that might be because I still can’t stop thinking about it.

It’s worth sharing a quote from Yorgos that opens the press notes: “Sometimes you just need to be ridiculous in order to achieve what we’re trying to achieve.”

Takeaway

If you take away anything from my review, let it be this: It is a long movie but don’t make the mistake of leaving before the credits! While I admit that the surprise final scene didn’t answer all of my lingering questions about how everything ties together, it did offer a very crucial nugget of information that made me nod my head in appreciation of the long game that Lanthimos plays all throughout Kinds of Kindness. Checkmate, Yorgos.