Kinds of Kindness, the latest film by Yorgos Lanthimos, who paved the way for the Greek Weird Wave, had its world premiere in competition at this May’s Cannes Film Festival. In Finland, it will be first shown in the Big Tent at the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä. A few months ago, Lanthimos garnered several Oscar nominations and awards for his previous film, Poor Things. His new release is a sharp and surreal anthology filled with dark humor, with a stellar cast including Cannes Best Actor winner Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, and Willem Dafoe in various roles.
The twisted triptych of power plays begins with an office worker (Plemons) who has handed over his life to his boss (Dafoe), including even the smallest decisions. In the second part, a policeman’s (Plemons) wife (Stone) who disappeared at sea returns home, but he believes she is no longer the same person. In the third part, a cult sends a woman (Stone) to find a miracle worker. The screenplay is by Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou, who previously collaborated on films such as Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lobster, and Dogtooth. Kinds of Kindness stylistically aligns with these Lanthimos’ earlier works, which originally brought him the attention of the film community worldwide.
Inari Ylinen