Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
In theaters on April 10 is ‘Hamlet’, a fresh update of William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, which features Riz Ahmed (‘Sound of Metal’), who plays a version of the troubled Dane, here the heir to an elite South Asian empire in modern-day London.
(L to R) Morfydd Clark and Riz Ahmed in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
If you’re going to tackle a Shakespeare play on film –– particularly the complex web of family tragedy that is ‘Hamlet’ — be prepared for challenges. But with this present-day version, director Aneil Karia and writer Michael Lesslie bring a fierce energy to their effort.
Script and Direction
(L to R) Riz Ahmed and Timothy Spall in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
Shakespeare is not easy to adapt, and Lesslie here sticks to the traditional language for the most part (while still needing to cut plenty to avoid an overlong running time). But the changes and substitutions (London for Denmark and the use of Indian culture) truly work well.
Karia, meanwhile brings real panache and style, making the world feel relevant and also, in places, timely.
Cast and Performances
(Far Left) Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
It’s really Ahmed’s show, and he chews on one of the trickiest parts in drama. Sequences such as the “To be or not to be” soliloquy give him something to truly work with.
Which isn’t to dismiss an impressive supporting cast, especially Art Malik as scheming uncle Claudius and Morfydd Clark, who brings humanity to the relatively smaller role of Ophelia.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Art Malik and Joe Alwyn in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
Even if you’ve dismissed Shakespeare as impenetrable, the new ‘Hamlet’ shows what can happen in sure hands, the emotion on full display. Purists may balk at the changes, but this is a worthwhile adaptation.
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Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Riz Ahmed about his work on ‘Hamlet’, taking on the iconic role, shooting the “To be or not to be” speech, and why Shakespeare’s work is so timeless and universal.
You can watch the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the challenges of playing the iconic role of Hamlet, and is it a role that you’ve always wanted to play?
Riz Ahmed: I’ve wanted to play this since I was 17 and I was in English class feeling like this is some stuffy, boring museum artifact, and that Shakespeare is not for me. I had an amazing English teacher who put it in front of me and made me realize, “Wow, this is pretty close to how I’m feeling.” The central feeling, I would say for Hamlet is, “Is the world going crazy or have I lost my mind?” I think that’s how we’re all feeling. That’s how I was feeling then, and it’s how I’m feeling now, and dare I say, it’s how most of the world feels now. So, I wanted to play it because it was very relatable. I think that’s the challenge and the gift of taking on something like ‘Hamlet’, a role like this, is it’s been done so many times. I think the challenge is, what is specific and personal about your interpretation? That’s also a gift. It’s been done so many times, there’s no illusion that someone’s going to perform a definitive Hamlet. You’re liberated in a way to just do something as uniquely specific and personal to you and your experience as possible. So, it’s a strange combination of feeling like, “We’re going to step into these big old shoes that don’t belong to us.” While at the same time going, “Well, actually we get to run around in these shoes however we want.”
(L to R) Morfydd Clark and Riz Ahmed in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
MF: Shakespeare’s work is universal and can be adapted to any time-period or culture. What is it about his work that you think has made it stand the test of time?
RA: I think it’s a couple of things. Firstly, a lot of the stories are drawn from myths that are not British, that are ancient. The first words you hear in our Hamlet are words from the Bhagavad Gita, which is the foundational Hindu myth. That’s because that story is very similar to the story of ‘Hamlet’. It predates ‘Hamlet’ by thousands of years. This idea of choosing family loyalty or doing the right thing, that’s a timeless theme. So, I think that’s one reason why it can cross barriers of culture. It belongs to myth that belongs to all of us. The second reason is because it’s like music. The logical understanding of every word was not something that even audiences were doing in Shakespeare’s time when it comes to these plays. Shakespeare made up like 4,000 new words. They didn’t understand half of what he was saying, but it’s music. It’s rhythm, its flow, its percussion, its energy, and it’s intention. If you hear it like music, it moves you like music and music crosses all boundaries.
(Far Left) Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
MF: Finally, I’ve never seen the ‘To be or not to be” speech depicted the way you did it, with the character in a car speeding towards oncoming traffic. Can you talk about shooting that scene and how that added urgency to the speech?
RA: Absolutely. Our interpretation of “To be or not to be” is that it’s not about, “Should I kill myself or not?” Which is how it’s usually performed, right? It’s a much more urgent, confronting question. The question is, “Should we fight back against injustice, even if it means we might die?” That’s a contemporary, radical question. Then if you look at the language itself rather than looking at the traditional way it’s performed, that’s what it’s saying. So, we had to stage it in a way and have that confrontation and that urgency. If the speech is a game of chicken, we’re going to stage it like a game of chicken. So, he is literally doing that. He’s driving down a freeway, heading towards a lorry a hundred miles an hour, asking himself, does he have the guts to take on something bigger than himself? So, we staged it that way in a way. We’re just trying to honor the DNA of this speech rather than honoring the traditional way it’s done. We really tried to make something that’s for people who feel like Shakespeare isn’t normally for them and hopefully it gives them a visceral experience.
‘Hamlet’ opens in theaters on April 10th.
What is the plot of ‘Hamlet’?
Haunted by his father’s ghost (Avijit Dutt), Prince Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) descends from elite London society into the city’s underground, moving between Hindu temples and homeless camps. In seeking to avenge his father’s murder, he begins to question his own role in his family’s corruption.
Every frame of ‘Hamnet’ is beautifully designed and captured by director Chloe Zhao (‘Eternals’) and her team, rendering England during the life and times of William Shakespeare in both ethereal and grimy terms. Life is hard, but also mysterious, and those who still connect with the forces of nature are an increasingly rare breed – like Anne ‘Agnes’ Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), who becomes the Bard’s wife and is the true center of ‘Hamnet.’
Agnes, the daughter of an alleged ‘forest witch,’ is both luminously beautiful and slightly feral, which makes her all-intoxicating for Shakespeare himself (Paul Mescal). ‘Hamnet’ chronicles that passion, their deep love, and the creation of their family in poignantly simple terms – until tragedy rips at their very core. But that tragedy also manifests itself in a way that reverberates through history, and it’s only when that happens that ‘Hamnet’ wobbles, with the film not providing enough time for that aspect of the story to breathe and take root in the same way that its first part does.
A young William Shakespeare is drawn to the magnetic Agnes (pronounced ANN-yes) in 16th century Stratford, and after a quick courtship they’re going at it hot and heavy in a stable. That leaves Agnes pregnant with the first of their three children, initiating a marriage that is frowned upon by Shakespeare’s brutish father (David Wilmot) and stern mother (Emily Watson). But William, Agnes, and their children – Susanna, and the twins Judith and Hamnet – find happiness in their existence, even if William has to travel frequently to London to write and produce his plays.
It’s only when the unimaginable (at least for us; it was much more common then) hits the clan, resulting in the death of perhaps the most precocious family member, that the clan’s entire dynamic is in danger of disintegrating – particularly as a shattered Agnes begins to bitterly resent her husband for not being there for that child’s last moments, and for throwing himself into his work instead of sharing in her grief. But William has his own method for dealing with the loss and his unspeakable anguish – and it expresses itself through the creation of one of his greatest plays (at least according to this movie, and the Maggie O’Farrell novel it was based on; the truth, as with many aspects of the real Shakespeare’s life, remains elusive).
For its first two-thirds, ‘Hamnet’ builds a magnificent edifice of love, emotion, and empathy that borders on the mystical, primarily through the force of nature that is Jessie Buckley’s Agnes. Her love for William – and his reciprocation – is the core of the movie’s first act, with their endearing family life the center of its second. It all comes crashing down during an extended, agonizing sequence in which Agnes’ feral, soul-crushing response is a heartbreaking howl of loss that could reverberate through the soul of every parent.
After reaching that height of sorrow, Zhao doesn’t completely find a way to balance the scales, or at least give the rest of the narrative the weight it deserves. Agnes’ fury toward William doesn’t seem earned – even if he becomes a distant figure during the middle of the film — and her journey during the closing sequences, both physical as she travels to London to see what the hell her husband is doing there and psychological as she sees his latest play and realizes where it’s coming from, seems rushed. Where ‘Hamnet’ should reach a powerful crescendo of forgiveness and acceptance, it never quite brings down the house, leaving one feeling like something’s missing.
Whatever the flaws in narrative structure, there are none whatsoever in Jessie Buckley’s performance. She has been cited as the favorite to take home an Oscar this year and there’s no question about it. We meet Agnes curled at the base of a tree; she returns to that tree to give birth to her first child. The woman is connected to nature in ways both beautiful and enigmatic, and Buckley captures every aspect of her – her mystical nature, her undeniable charisma, her fierce love, and her excruciating grief – just right. It’s a powerhouse piece of work, and although it’s one of several delivered by women this year, it will be hard to top.
We were somewhat soured on Paul Mescal after his miscasting in ‘Gladiator II,’ but he’s returned to our good graces here. Mescal’s Shakespeare, while not nearly as present onscreen as Agnes, is nevertheless a complex presence, a man torn between his love for his family and the work that takes him away from them, both physically and mentally. Mescal’s portrayal here is soulful and empathetic, giving us a glimpse into the beating heart of one of literature’s greatest geniuses (there’s only one scene, in which he spouts some of his most famous lines while considering the end of his own life, that doesn’t ring true).
Attention must be paid as well to Emily Watson’s Mary Shakespeare, whose relationship with Agnes evolves from dour disapproval to love and understanding, and especially Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet Shakespeare, about whom we’ll say little but who also rips one’s heart out during several key scenes.
Chloe Zhao seems most comfortable as a director in exploring the human psyche, the depths of our emotion and empathy, and the intimacy of our connection to both other people and the world around us. Perhaps that’s why her sole attempt to date at spectacle, ‘Eternals,’ didn’t quite work, while films like ‘Nomadland’ are so powerful.
She re-centers herself here with ‘Hamnet,’ finding all the elements of her best work while adding a powerful message about the ways in which we process grief and how the creation of art can channel the deepest and most intense of human emotions. Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ is not a recreation of events in the Bard’s life (which may or may not have happened as they do in this film), and neither is Chloe Zhao’s ‘Hamnet.’ But both take on a single, universal query: can art can provide empathy, understanding, and even healing? That is the question indeed.
William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and Anne ‘Agnes’ Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) marry and have three children, until the family is shattered by an unthinkable tragedy that leads to the writing of one of the Bard’s greatest plays.
Opening in limited theatrical release on December 20th, ‘The Brutalist’ seems sure to challenge notions of how long is too long, even when the writer/director in charge is the prodigiously talented Brady Corbet.
Since switching from acting to directing with 2015’s ‘The Childhood of a Leader,’ Brady Corbet has labored away on ‘Vox Lux’ and now this story of one man’s eventful voyage to America, where he strives to build a new life while falling prey to his own vices and other people’s avaricious attitudes. The question is, is there a huge audience for a movie that runs 3 hours and 45 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission?
Will ‘The Brutalist’s Story of an Architect Build an Audience?
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Mimicking movies from a bygone era, Corbet’s latest features an overture and an epilogue bookending its giant two-part main runtime. There are certainly times when it all feels like an overblown exercise in experimental filmmaking, but the story and performances are strong enough to shoulder the expectations brought on by that running time.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s all built around a supremely compelling central performance from Adrien Brody and enough incident to actually fill the story, though you can certainly see chunks where Corbet might have benefitted from tightening the whole thing up. Still, it’s a remarkable achievement, and all the more impressive give that the budget was just $6 million –– compare that to ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ which did a lot less with $190 million.
Script and Direction
(L to R) Joe Alwyn, Guy Pearce, Adrien Brody, and Felicity Jones in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Corbet wrote his latest with regular creative (and real-life) partner Mona Fastvold and while their screenplay swings between authentic and wildly melodramatic, it serves the movie well enough, powering the performances and creating an impressively sweeping story given the resources available.
While Brody’s central character naturally scores the lion’s share of dialogue, one or two others get the chance to shine, but it’s much more weighted towards one man’s story than building truly rounded portrayals of everyone, which few movies can attempt, even when they have the sort of mammoth running time on display here.
Corbet has certainly learned a lot from his previous directorial efforts, and he stretches those dollars impressively, blending archive footage with small intimate moments in chambers and the stark, sweeping Pennsylvania hills where Brody’s László Tóth does his celebrated work.
Cast and Performances
Brody’s is our core character through the story, but there is also room for other actors to shine in support.
Adrien Brody as László Tóth
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Playing the architect whose concrete-heavy work gives the film its title, Brody is predictably wonderful, showing the character’s humanity in all its various shades. A Jewish refugee from post-World War II Budapest, he arrives in the United States desperate to find his own version of the American Dream, initially indulging in all the pleasures it has to offer.
His immigrant story is far from an easy one –– initially forced to rely on the charity of relatives already established in the States, he’s then in an even worse situation, reduced to construction work and shoveling coal to make ends meet, a far cry from his heyday as an architect at home before the war.
But when he scores the patronage of a wealthy Pennsylvania magnate and learns his wife has survived the Nazis, his life is seemingly made –– if only he could avoid giving in to his own demons. This is a tour de force for Brody, who commits fully to the role and keeps you watching even as his director indulges in long stretches that try the patience.
Reduced to simply a voice in letters in the first half of the film, Jones is a revelation when her character properly arrives in the second. Tóth’s determined wife, sickened by her circumstances, energizes the later stages of the film and Jones is great all through her section, with one incredible scene we won’t spoil near the end.
As the flinty, shrewd businessman and property magnate, Pearce does great work with what could have been a one-note performance. He makes an impact from his first entrance, and Van Buren is a force through the movie, for both good and ill.
Supporting cast
Isaach de Bankolé in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
One or two other parts make an impact beyond the central three –– Raffey Cassidy as the main couple’s nervy niece Zsófia is all wide-eyed, deer-in-headlights energy (which hides a spine of steel), while Isaach De Bankolé is more than simply Tóth’s best friend, a dedicated single father he meets on the Pennsylvania breadlines.
And in a smaller but pivotal part, we have Jonathan Hyde as Leslie, the project manager assigned to oversee Tóth’s big build for Van Buren, who is practically tearing his hair out working with (or for, if you see it Tóth’s way) the mercurial architect.
Final Thoughts
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Corbet’s meditation on immigration, survivor’s guilt, and the dangers of pursuing your personal ambitions will not be for everyone. If the idea of nearly four hours in the cinema (admittedly with a break in the middle) watching someone struggle and suffer is appealing, then ‘The Brutalist’ represents one of the best examples of the genre.
It’s ambitious, thoughtful and will likely be in the awards conversation this year.
‘The Brutalist’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the plot of ‘The Brutalist’?
Fleeing from post-war Europe in 1947, a visionary architect (Adrien Brody) and his wife (Felicity Jones) settle in Pennsylvania where a wealthy and mysterious client (Guy Pearce) changes their lives forever.
Opening in theaters in limited release on June 21st before opening wide on June 28th is the new anthology film from Oscar-nominated writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos (‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’) entitled ‘Kinds of Kindness’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Joe Alwyn and Mamoudou Athie about their work on ‘Kinds of Kindness’, their first reaction to the unusual screenplay, the challenges of playing three different characters in three separate stories, working with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, and collaborating with director Yorgos Lanthimos on set.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.
Moviefone: To begin with, Joe, can you talk about your first reaction to reading this screenplay and what did you think of the idea of telling three different stories all with the same cast?
Joe Alwyn: When I first read it, it’s unlike anything I’ve read. I was so intrigued, so baffled, and so excited. The fact that it was split into these three stories as an anthology, I really liked it. It almost felt like an experiment. I don’t know if I completely got it or if I have yet completely got it. But I also really liked his idea of having, as you say, the same cast playing different roles in each one. It felt like a theater troop and there was something playful about that. I was just excited to be invited back into Yorgos’s world. I knew I’d say yes before I’d even read it.
MF: Mamoudou, was it challenging playing three different characters in the same movie?
Mamoudou Athie: Honestly, that was the least challenging thing about it. I mean, that’s just kind of part of the job. It just happened to be protracted in a period where you’re doing it back-to-back to back. But it didn’t feel like any special task. It was just three different characters that I had to work on, which I feel like we’d all done. I mean, in drama school numerous times we were working on three different things at once, and it just so happened that these all somehow tied together in the same universe. But other than that, it was creative situation for the environment and that’s it.
MF: Do you have a favorite character or segment that you worked on?
MA: Well, obviously I have the most to do on the second, so that gave me a lot of opportunity to explore and work with Yorgos and Jesse. So, I guess it’d been the second.
MF: Joe, what is it like being an actor on a Yorgos Lanthimos set?
JA: I mean, he’s brilliant. He doesn’t, in my experience, try and tackle things the way that you might conventionally think he would, or a director would. So, there isn’t really conversation about character or themes or intention or the things that you might expect. But he’s quite blunt and quite direct in a way of getting what he wants in quite a simple, instructive way, which is useful. I think he really encourages a sense of play. He keeps things very light. So even though the stories and characters are often going into dark corners, there’s a real lightness and you feel safe, you might not know exactly what it is that’s going to come out the other end, but you feel safe and willing and wanting to jump in and give it a go.
MF: Mamoudou, what was your experience like collaborating with Yorgos on set?
MA: Oh, he’s the man. I mean, I remember being very intimidated. He’s one of my favorite directors, period. I came in with a lot of reverence. I remember leaving the project like, “Oh, I should have been a lot more irreverent” because it was just so much fun, and it didn’t have to be anything. I imagine the script as kind of like a tome or a bible, but there’s a lot of leeway and there’s a lot of play, and it was just a very fun set. There was a lot of laughs, and I was surprised by how many times we were just cracking up on set.
MF: Finally, Mamoudou, what was it like working with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons on this project?
MA: I’ve had such respect for them, and it’s always nice when people live up to what you hope. Jesse is a real actor, a real actor’s actor, he’s committed and same for Emma. Just the commitment to the work itself. Everything else is secondary. But also, it was fun and easy, and we had just chill conversations. It was just the best working environment with two actors that I could hope for.
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What is the plot of ‘Kinds of Kindness’?
‘Kinds of Kindness’ is an anthology film, with three separate stories that are only loosely connected. The first tells of a man (Jesse Plemons) whose life is dominated by his boss (Willem Dafoe) in extreme ways; the second follows a cop (Jesse Plemons) who is convinced that his wife (Emma Stone), who returns home after being missing and presumed dead, is not who she says she is; and in the third, two people (Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons) hit the road on behalf of a strange cult to find a woman (Margaret Qualley) who’s prophesized to have incredible powers.
Who is in the cast of ‘Kinds of Kindness’?
Emma Stone as Rita / Liz / Emily
Jesse Plemons as Robert / Daniel / Andrew
Willem Dafoe as Raymond / George / Omi
Margaret Qualley as Vivian / Martha / Ruth and Rebecca
For his ninth feature film, ‘Kinds of Kindness,’ Greek director and co-writer Yorgos Lanthimos (working again with his frequent writing partner, Efthimis Filippou) returns to the surreal horror/comedy of earlier works like ‘Dogtooth,’ ‘Alps,’ and ‘The Lobster.’ Not that you could call his recent, Oscar-winning films like ‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’ conventional, exactly: both still incorporate Lanthimos’ sense of the absurd, his visceral approach to sex and physical violence, and a heightened reality into more linear, accessible narratives.
For ‘Kinds of Kindness,’ however, he’s gone back to the more enigmatic storytelling of his earlier films, skirting the line between dark comedy and outright horror (although more on the comedic side than, say, ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’). Perhaps in a sly wink to the format that spawned cult horror favorites like ‘Dead of Night’ (1945), ‘The House That Dripped Blood’ (1971), ‘Creepshow’ (1982) and more recent entries like ‘Ghost Stories’ (2017) and the ‘V/H/S’ series, ‘Kinds of Kindness’ is an anthology film, telling three loosely connected stories starring the same troupe of actors in different roles.
The result is a long (nearly three hours) yet continuously entertaining cinematic hall of mirrors, at times frightening, revolting, and hilarious, with Lanthimos’ ensemble of actors – led, for their third feature together, by Emma Stone – clearly enjoying the exercise. Some viewers may find Lanthimos’ style here too much of a slow burn, while others may be frustrated by the unreality that intrudes in each story and his often cold view of the characters. But this is a rewarding, eerie, and unpredictable look at human behavior and the dark lengths to which people will go to win approval or acceptance.
The single thread that connects the three tales is a character named R.M.F. (Yorgos Stefanakos), who appears at key points in all three narratives yet whose presence is never fully explained. The character also provides the title for each segment. In the first, “The Death of R.M.F.,” Jesse Plemons plays Robert, a man who seems to have it all: a beautiful house, a loving wife (Hong Chau), and a successful career with a boss, Raymond (Willem Dafoe), who seemingly loves him like a son. But early on it’s made clear that Robert’s life is actually controlled by Raymond, down to what he eats, what he reads, and even when he has sex with his wife.
After Raymond gives Robert a task that Robert is simply unable to do, Robert is fired – and his life spirals downward from there. His wife leaves him, he has to sell off prized possessions, and he becomes increasingly desperate in his efforts to win back Raymond’s affection. Things are only complicated when he begins a relationship with a woman (Emma Stone) who also seems to have come under Raymond’s sinister wing.
The control that our employers have over our lives – aren’t we all on call all the time? – is very much taken to an extreme in ‘The Death of R.M.F.,’ but a theme here that recurs mainly in the third segment is our seemingly inescapable need to be accepted. Robert goes to terrible lengths to get back into Raymond’s good graces, and his spiral into near-madness is as disquieting as it is darkly humorous.
There’s a different kind of rejection afoot in ‘R.M.F. is Flying,’ the second and probably least effective of the three stories. Plemons again takes center stage as Daniel, a cop whose wife Liz (Stone) has gone missing on some sort of scientific ocean expedition. He watches videos of get-togethers with their best friends (played by Mamoudou Athie and Margaret Qualley), although the videos are not exactly of backyard barbecues. And then Liz is found and returns home – but Daniel soon begins to suspect that the woman in his house is not his wife.
There is plenty of atmosphere and the same dark humor in this segment, but even for a movie that does not rely on normal logic, its story doesn’t cohere as well as ‘The Death of R.M.F.’ or the third segment, ‘R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich.’ Yet Daniel’s psychological descent, combined with Liz’s apparently odd behavior, is a metaphor for the dynamics in any human relationship: how well do we truly know the person next to us, that we are spending our life with?
Emma Stone steps up to the lead role in ‘R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich,’ playing a woman named Emily who has abandoned her husband and daughter and joined a bizarre cult led by Omi (Dafoe) and his wife Aka (Chau). She and fellow cult member Andrew (Plemons) are tasked with searching for a person prophesized to have miraculous powers, who will become a leader of great importance to the cult.
‘R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich’ sort of comes full circle, focusing on the lengths that people will go to in order to feel like they’re part of something greater than themselves. It’s heavily implied that the women in the cult are allowed only to have sex with Omi, and must undergo purification rituals and face exile if they have sex with others, debasing themselves to stay within Omi’s good graces. There are contrivances along the way (Emily’s need to drive recklessly seems to exist only to serve the plot later on) and, unlike the first two segments, ‘Sandwich’ ends with an abrupt twist ending straight out of O. Henry.
Cumulatively, the stories suggest a world where reality can fray at the edges and unnatural forces can creep in, especially in the second and third tales. Unlike the lush period details of ‘The Favourite’ or the colorful fantasia of ‘Poor Things,’ ‘Kinds of Kindness’ is set in a modern-day milieu, splitting its time between bastions of wealth (Raymond’s offices and home in the first segment) and lackluster, depressing settings (Daniel’s wood-paneled home in the second story, the outside of a hospital late at night).
As in his previous work, Lanthimos is matter-of-fact in his portrayal of violence and sex: the former is abrupt, unpleasant, and inevitable (including one hard-to-watch scene where someone chops off their finger), while the latter isn’t erotic in the usual sense, but primal, urgent, and messy. Lanthimos and DP Robbie Ryan frame it and light it all simply and functionally, often going from wide shots straight to immersive close-ups involving a face or body part.
Kudos also to Jerskin Fendrix for his minimalist, ominous score, which alternates between single plinks on the piano (a la ‘Eyes Wide Shut’) more thunderous, doom-laden chords, and apocalyptic choral bursts. The music both heightens the atmosphere and comments on the action, the latter often to subtly hilarious effect.
‘Kinds of Kindness’ is clearly a film made for actors to stretch themselves as much as possible, with all the main actors (with the exception of Hunter Schafer) playing different roles in each segment. The MVP in this case is Plemons, who plays two different needy, insecure men in the first two stories yet manages to create two complete, wholly distinctive performances (also very different from his frightening cameo in ‘Civil War’ earlier this year). He changes himself again in the third story, where he’s more of a supporting player, and his work throughout is nothing less than a tour de force.
Emma Stone, of course, is outstanding as always, with a supporting role in the first segment, a larger one in the second, and the lead in the third. Her character is more enigmatic and less fleshed out in the second story, but she is riveting in the final tale as a deeply damaged woman who has withdrawn so much from the world that she cannot even find any spare warmth for her daughter.
Willem Dafoe is excellent as a malevolent father figure in all three stories (especially in the first and last), while Hong Chau, Margaret Qualley (who does her meatiest work in segment three), Mamoudou Athie, and the rest weave seamlessly in and out of each section of the film like the members of a seasoned stage company able to take on any role in the repertory.
If you have found Yorgos Lanthimos’ work troublesome or even harrowing to sit through in the past, you might have a tough time watching ‘Kinds of Kindness’: there is cruelty (mostly to humans, but also briefly to an animal), callousness, sexual assault, and sadistic behavior. It steps in and out of reality, sometimes jarringly, and it can be frustrating in the way it doesn’t lay out the meaning of everything you see.
Yet the film is also bracing, mind-bending, and utterly unpredictable from start to finish, with the film not feeling its length at all as one gets caught up in the nightmarish surreality that Lanthimos constructs and maintains. Ironically, kindness is found only sparingly in these stories, but that may be more like the real world than anything else.
‘Kinds of Kindness’ receives 8 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Kinds of Kindness’?
‘Kinds of Kindness’ is an anthology film, with three separate stories that are only loosely connected. The first tells of a man whose life is dominated by his boss in extreme ways; the second follows a cop who is convinced that his wife, who returns home after being missing and presumed dead, is not who she says she is; and in the third, two people hit the road on behalf of a strange cult to find a woman who’s prophesized to have incredible powers.
Who is in the cast of ‘Kinds of Kindness’?
Emma Stone as Rita / Liz / Emily
Jesse Plemons as Robert / Daniel / Andrew
Willem Dafoe as Raymond / George / Omi
Margaret Qualley as Vivian / Martha / Ruth and Rebecca
