Kind of Kindness is Yorgos Lanthimos and his peak. Just when you think that you have seen Yorgos at his most bizarre, a movie like this comes along that even to the most ardent supporter has little appeal (don’t even get me started on the universal appeal). Perhaps he used the good will he garnered from his last project Poor Things (which led to Emma Stone winning her 2nd Academy Award) to move forward with what I imagine was his passion project. I managed to scope out that some of our fellow critics were stunned when Searchlight announced Kinds of Kindness was headed to streaming in quick fashion. Do you blame them. The studio has to make every attempt to turn a profit, if they are able to do so.
There really is little connective tissue in the film. It’s structured as a collection of short stories (each more bizarre that its predecessor). I get what Yorgos was attempting in the project. He wanted to focus of the more bizarre elements of what some consider kindness. However, someone needed to be in the room when they were laying this out to rein him in. It’s sometimes dangerous to allow someone so much control over the final product. Costner proved this as well with his Western that ultimately will suffer the same fate as this project. Both films projected to audience that if you didn’t like each respective film, it was because you weren’t intelligent enough to grasp the content matter.
Kinds of Kindness was a 2 hour and 30-minute film which ultimately felt like a 4 hour and 30-minute film which had the same appeal as rolling around in cow manure. I can handle bizarre. But when something is so bizarre that you begin questioning why you even bought a ticket to begin with, that about says it all
Dewey Singleton has been reviewing new releases in television and film for many years. Dewey's reviews have been heard in multiple markets (Houston Atlanta, Tampa). Dewey's past work has been with awardswatch.com, awardsradar.com, and bleeding cool. Dewey is a proud member of the CCA.