Three tales of belief and obsession | Arts & Entertainment

There are some films I approach with caution. I steer clear of horror films and avoid war films as I’m not a fan of violence. There’s enough cruelty in the world that I don’t feel I need to subject myself to it as a form of entertainment. However, there are some filmmakers that I admire whose work I want to support. Even if that means I’m going to be uncomfortable.
Yorgos Lanthimos is the Greek filmmaker whose Oscar-winning film, “Poor Things,” is a good example. While I adored that film, I knew that his latest film was a return to form. Some of his other films I’ve found interesting and creative, even if I didn’t personally enjoy them. Lanthimos is like an alien discovering humanity and trying to make sense of it using a language that I don’t often understand.
“Kinds of Kindness” resembles a well-funded, deeply personal art project. Imagine an artist workshop or commune where a group of actors is given a set of props and a few lines of dialogue and given free rein to create three wildly divergent works. This triptych of absurdist tales features death, dismemberment and sacrifice with the same actors portraying different characters in each of the stories.
Lanthimos cowrote the screenplay with Efthimis Filippou. There’s a theme of sacrifice that runs through the bleak stories. Jesse Plemons was awarded the Cannes 2024 prize in acting for his work in the film. Each of the actors is given a chance to showcase their skills except poor R.M.F. Yorgos Stefanakos is the actor who appears in all three short stories and he’s the one the character’s kill or resurrect. And he gets to eat a sandwich.
“It felt like a subtle way to connect the three stories other than the fact that the same actors play a different character in each story,” Lanthimos told Variety at the “Kinds of Kindness” premiere in New York. “We didn’t want to have a main character reappearing, but a character that had a short time in the film. But at the same time, his presence was pivotal.”
Your enjoyment of the film depends on whether you accept each of the different realities and moralities presented by the filmmakers. There’s a misogynistic streak present in the way female characters are treated. There are a lot of topless scenes. Women may have the central role, but their characters are defiled, murdered and raped. Margaret Qualley, in particular, goes from scantily clad to committing suicide to dying in a horrific accident. She radiates goodness and is treated like a barely animated corpse. A pretty body to be weighed, measured and tested.
These fables have been referred to as darkly comic. There are moments so absurd that they’re funny, like when Emma Stone’s character busts a move when she’s certain she’s discovered the savior for her cult. Or when Hong Chau’s character licks a woman to see if she’s “clean.” If you’re empathetic to the characters though, watching one suffer on screen doesn’t inspire laughter. It’s black comedy if you can find violent death amusing.
Rarely do I recommend waiting to watch a film or films till they’re available to stream. “Kinds of Kindness” might benefit from some time between each bleak story. It’s hard to stomach that much absurdness in one sitting, especially when the trio of tales lasts a full 164 minutes. That’s a lot to ask of a movie fan.
Drinks with Films rating: one sip of water anointed by tears (out of 5)
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