Kinds of Kindness ★★★

We all have weird thoughts from time to time. We usually keep them to ourselves. Yorgos Lanthimos makes films out of his. His latest film Kinds of Kindness is a triple dose of weirdness, three stories which share a principal cast playing different roles in each story. The film is a collaboration with screenwriter Efthimis Filippou, who penned Lanthimos’ breakout films Dogtooth, The Lobster, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Likewise, Kinds of Kindness bears more in common with these films than Lanthimos’ other works. Kinds of Kindness is offbeat, dabbles in absurdity, and fraught with uncomfortable scenes of self-harm that define the film as well as its score of Gregorian chants and discordant piano keys that are struck with audible frustration.

All three parts of Kinds of Kindness are filmed in New Orleans, but like Lanthimos’ early films the filming location is of minimal relevance to the story told. With few actors with speaking roles, Kinds of Kindness plays out less like an imitation of life and more like theatre. The throughline between the three stories is the nonverbal R.M.F. (Yorgos Stefanakos) – he dies, he flies, he eats a sandwich. In the first story of the film, ‘The Death of ‘R.M.F’, Jesse Plemons plays Robert Fletcher who closely follows orders from his boss Raymond (Willem Dafoe). Raymond prescribes Fletcher’s entire day in detail, detailing what Fletcher must eat, drink, and do with his spare time. He even prohibits Fletcher from having children against Fletcher’s will. The themes of control and autonomy are central to each of the three stories in Kinds of Kindness, characters experiencing sacrifice and a diminishment of the self seemingly to feel a sense of belongingness or safety.

In addition to the theme of control, dreams play an important role in Kinds of Kindness and are shared in irony given that the occurrences in dreams are often less absurd than what is experienced firsthand by the characters. This is a feat in itself in ‘R.M.F is Flying’ where Liz’s (Emma Stone) dream is whimsically far-fetched yet effortlessly humorous.

Plemons is new to Lanthimos’ films, and he captures the measured cadence of dialogue we’re most familiar with from The Killing of a Sacred Deer where thoughts are expressed with reduced emotion and in a near-deadpan tone. Part of the appeal of watching Lanthimos’ films are his characters not fully acknowledging the absurdity or direness of their circumstances, prompting astonished responses from audiences. Plemons’ Fletcher is fully controlled by Raymond as if he were hypnotized, and Fletcher’s first iota of resistance sets into motion a sequence of events that builds to what might be a twist ending – or an obvious ending – depending on your cynicism. Also new to Lanthimos’ cinema is Euphoria star Hunter Schafer who has a minor role in ‘R.M.F Eats a Sandwich’ yet one that is significant as audiences determine why she has been summoned to the coroner’s. And given Margaret Qualley has a greater presence in Kinds of Kindness after a ridiculous role in Poor Things that made me question why she agreed to the cameo, perhaps we’ll be seeing more of Hunter Schafer in Lathimos’ films to come.

With no relation to contemporary events, Kinds of Kindness is escapist cinema for those with an… acquired sense of humor. The triptych plays as fables or theatre and those willing to set aside rationality for a moment will find Kinds of Kindness to be highly entertaining. There’s few filmmakers with as strong of a director’s presence in their films as Lanthimos, and Kinds of Kindness represents a refreshing return to form for the director and hopefully a sign of continued collaboration with Efthimis Filippou to come.