Plot

Kinds of Kindness Movie Review: A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife’s demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning, and a woman searches for an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual guide.

A triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

Kinds of Kindness Movie Review Details: What are Kinds of Kindness about?

• Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
• Writers: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
• Release Date: June 28, 2024 (United States)
• Countries of Origin: United States, United Kingdom, Ireland
• Language: English
• Genres: Comedy, Drama
• Time: 2h 44m
• Box Office: Budget $15,000,000 (Estimated)
• Gross US & Canada: $3,243,371
• Opening Weekend US & Canada: $377,289 (Jun 23, 2024)
• Gross Worldwide: $5,957,810

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Kinds of Kindness Movie Review: What are Kinds of Kindness about?

This subject ran throughout his masterfully unsettling 2009 breakthrough film Dogtooth, in which an oppressive father builds a complex mythology about the perils of the world outside the limits to keep his three adult children unwittingly imprisoned in the family compound. And control unites the three tales in Kinds of Kindness, to differing degrees and purposes. The Death of RMF, the first chapter (Yorgos Stefanakos plays RMF, the only character who appears in all three episodes, albeit obliquely), is where it is most overtly mentioned in the narrative.

But Kinds of Kindness sometimes feels like a drag in the absence of the full-bore artistic visual assault that greased the wheels of Lanthimos’s previous two films. The film is set in and around New Orleans, but you wouldn’t know it because the rich settings he created in his earlier images have been replaced with urban banality.

 All of this is unendurable—the movie is occasionally humorous, but it’s also emotionally distant, stilted, and drawn out—unless one draws a connection between Lanthimos’s style of filmmaking and the power maneuvers that are depicted. Ultimately, directing is about control, and in this instance, as viewers, we have to surrender ourselves to a filmmaker who appears to be trying our forbearance, our forbearance threshold, and our level of agony. The possibility exists that, in viewing the movie, we unintentionally take part in Yorgos Lanthimos’s lavishly imagined S&M scenario.

With so many ideas flowing into “Kinds of Kindness,” the project feels like three separate movies that Lanthimos and Filippou were unable to fully develop into feature-length productions. They therefore apparently made the decision to jam them all into an almost three-hour anthology. Discussions about the themes that unite the movies could lead to annoyance. 

However, Lanthimos’ mastery of tone unifies them all, creating a film that is both horrifying and hilarious at the same time, even when it creates barriers to interpretation. The project’s anthology format reminds me of the idea that attempting to make two, or in this case, three, movies at once does not result in a unified one. However, the project’s daring wins out, and the cast once again gives it their all for a director who knows how to deal with groups.

There’s a feeling that the meaning behind “Kinds of Kindness” hasn’t been given as much thought as it has in some of his best films, even though the prose is rich enough to discuss in think pieces and coffee shop talks. Having Plemons provide not just one, but two, if not three, of the best performances of the year helps keep “Kinds of Kindness” cohesive. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t an earlier version of this movie, before Lanthimos rose to fame as an Oscar nominee and master, that was perhaps tighter and more polished due to a little less creative freedom. Nobody has the right to rule over him. However, that might not necessarily be a good thing.

Given that he has won two Oscars for his last two films and is probably going to return to making high-profile films in the future, “Kinds of Kindness” might be viewed in the end as a side project in what I believe will be a lengthy career of critically lauded works. Even if it turns out to be a minor incident in his career, it serves as a reminder that Lanthimos is not at all desperate and that he has the self-assurance to pursue his passions regardless of whether others share his enthusiasm.

Following the warmer, cuddlier flicks “The Favourite” and “Poor Things,” filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos returns to a particular form, if you will, with “Kinds of Kindness.” Less approachable, more insane, illogical, and unsettling are his earlier films “Dogtooth,” “Alps,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” and “The Lobster”—all four co-written with Efthimis Filippou, who also worked with him on “Kinds.” Naturally, this explains why they’re so divisive. And so cherished.

“Kinds of Kindness” is going to replace it in that latter category, in my opinion, because of its brilliantly, stubbornly off-putting stance and incredibly twisted sense of humor.

The three parts of “Kinds of Kindness” are interwoven with a special dynamic that fascinates us: the need to either dominate or be dominated, or maybe both. A quick glance at a political arena or a playground reveals that many people like to be the ones giving instructions, while others prefer to be the ones giving them.

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This implies that there are numerous interpretations of “Kinds of Kindness,” almost all of which are justified by the text. In today’s world, dominance is evident in many aspects of life, partly because to the abundance of options available to most of us regarding our attire, activities, diet, and identities, which may easily lead to disarray.

There might be more to “Kinds of Kindness.” A story, particularly one as insane as this one, can be interpreted in a variety of ways. You may adore it. You may detest it. It may become an obsession for you, or you may write it off as a bunch of hoopla.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q.1 Who Stars in Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, and Jesse Plemons.

Q.2 Who Wrote Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou.

Q.3 Who Directed Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Yorgos Lanthimos.

Q.4 Who was the Composer for Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Jerskin Fendrix.

Q.5 Who was the Producer of Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, and Kasia Malipan.

Q.6 Who was the Executive Producer of Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Daniel Battsek, Louise Lovegrove, and Ollie Madden.

Q.7 Who was the Cinematographer for Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Robbie Ryan.

Q.8 Who was the Editor of Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Yorgos Mavropsaridis.

Q.9 What is the Plot of Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. Plot kept under wraps.

Q.10 What was the Budget for Kinds of Kindness?

Ans. 15 million.

Q.11 How much did Kinds of Kindness Earn at the US box office?

Ans. $2.49 million.