There is a sacred covenant between audiences and filmmakers. The audience will give the filmmaker their undivided attention. In exchange the filmmaker will educate, enlighten, or at the very least entertain the audience.
Some filmmakers believe there is another option. They think they may challenge the audience.
Whether you feel that is acceptable or not will shade how you feel about the new movie Kinds of Kindness.
The first challenge from the new movie by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos comes in the lengthy 2 hour 45 minute running time. Second, is that it tells not one story, but three, each ending with its own brief closing credits. Third, there are graphic, anxiety inducing moments of self-mutilation and animal cruelty. The final challenge Kinds of Kindness confronts its audience with is that none of the stories unfold in a traditional manner.
There are beginnings, middles, and ends to all three stories. But there are no obvious lessons to be had. Nor connections between the three stories, except for the same actors playing different roles in each tale.
To paraphrase a great poet, I’m willing to admit I’m not the brightest tool in the shed. Perhaps to a more learned observer, Kinds of Kindness makes all kinds of sense. There are after all dissertations written that Jackson Pollock’s paintings embody the human experience, whereas to my untrained eye it looks like paint splattered randomly on the canvas.
A certain kind of viewer could have great fun trying to make shape out of the seemingly random occurrences and scenarios presented in Kinds of Kindness. Another kind of viewer will take offense to this lack of cohesion.
Do you like your pie served to you warm on a clean plate? Or do you prefer your pie shoved violently into your face? Your answer will be as valid a predictor as any whether you will enjoy this movie.
