Kinds of Kindness | Bouquets & Brickbats

02/11/25

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Yorgos Lanthimos must qualify as one of the hardest-working directors in the business – and one of the most consistently brilliant. Since his breakout with The Lobster in 2015, he’s unleashed a whole string of knockout films and, as I’ve observed elsewhere, he has the gift of turning the wildest, most experimental ideas into palpable hits at the box office. If, in its opening scenes, Bugonia seems like his most straightforward story yet, don’t be fooled. Eyebrow-raising revelations are waiting an hour or so further down the line.

Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is the CEO of pharmaceutical megacorporation, Auxolith, located in an unspecified area of the USA – though surprisingly, much of the film was actually shot in and around High Wycombe. As she goes about her business, she’s blissfully unaware that her movements are being studied by Teddy Gantz (Jesse Plemons), a lowly worker at her company’s packaging warehouse.

In his spare time, Teddy studies internet conspiracies and has come to the conclusion that Michelle is actually an ‘Andromedan’ – an alien creature responsible for many of the problems currently facing humanity. She’s also indirectly responsible for the plight of his mother, Sandy (Alicia Silverstone), who is on life support after being used as a test case for one of Auxolith’s experimental drug projects. Worst of all, in Teddy’s mind, is the fact that Michelle is also directly responsible for the decline of the honeybee, which is key to the world’s survival.

Assisted by his vulnerable cousin, Don (Aiden Delbis), Teddy kidnaps Michelle and the two men take her to their ramshackle home in the middle of nowhere. They take the precaution of shaving her head and covering her with antihistamine cream – to prevent her from contacting her ‘mothership’. Teddy wants to use Michelle as a bargaining tool with the Andromedan Emperor, so he can negotiate freedom for the human race. But first, Michelle must be interrogated…

It would be a crime to reveal any more about the plot but, once again, I find myself marvelling at Lanthimos’s ability to manipulate me as a viewer, leading me first in one direction, then in an entirely different one before dashing all my assumptions. There are moments here where I have to restrain myself from gasping out loud. Inspired by Save the Green Planet by South Korean filmmaker, Jang Joon-hwan (which I haven’t seen), Bugonia has been adapted by Will Tracey and, in its latter sections, incorporates elements of a high-stakes thriller as Michelle is obliged to use all her considerable skills to stay alive.

Both Stone and Plemons are utterly captivating in the central roles and it’s easy to see why they’ve become members of Lanthimos’s repertory theatre – while there’s something utterly adorable about Delbis as the hapless Don, unable to challenge the commands given to him by Teddy, even when it’s evident that they disgust and confuse him.

But the film’s true triumph is only revealed in a final extended sequence, where Lanthimos brings all the different strands of the story together to create a shattering, thought-provoking conclusion. The director has announced that he’s ‘taking a rest’ after this and, following a run that includes The Favourite, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, I’d say he’s definitely earned one.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

28/06/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

You have to hand it to Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos – he doesn’t let the grass grow. His sublime adaptation of Poor Things only aired in January, bringing with it a well-deserved Oscar for Emma Stone – and already, here’s his next creation, a more stripped-back, contemporary tale: a kind of portmanteau featuring three different stories with the same actors playing different roles.

Kinds of Kindness, co-written by Lanthimos with long-time collaborator Efthiminus Filippou, begins with The Death of RMF. This is the story of Robert (Jesse Plemons), a submissive office worker who is compelled by his ruthless boss, Raymond (Willem Dafoe), to carry out a series of humiliating duties. He finally baulks at committing an extraordinary act of violence and is consequently cast out of Raymond’s orbit. Seeking solace, he attempts to forge a relationship with chance encounter, Rita (Emma Stone), but soon makes an unsettling discovery…

In the second tale, RMF is Flying, Plemons plays cop Daniel, whose wife, Liz (Stone), is missing, shipwrecked on a desert island. When she finally returns, Daniel starts to notice changes in her character and, in order to test her, he asks her to to prove her love for him.

In the concluding story RMF Eats a Sandwich, Plemons and Stone play Emily and Andrew, disciples in a weird cult run by Omi (Dafoe again). The two of them have been assigned a difficult task – to locate a mysterious woman who has the power to re-animate the now dead RMF (Yorgos Stefanakos). Could veterinarian Ruth (Margaret Qualley) be the woman to accomplish the impossible?

If this all sounds incomprehensible on paper, fear not, because Lanthimos takes enough time to delineate every character arc with such skill that there is never any confusion about what’s happening onscreen, even when it’s totally mind boggling. These stories are allegories focusing on three of life’s greatest preoccupations: work, marriage and religion – and, as the bizarre events unfold, audiences are led fearlessly through a series of interactions that alternate between harsh reality and haunting dreamscapes.

If I claimed I understood everything that happens here I’d be lying. I only know that this is exciting, unpredictable filmmaking, and – as I was with Poor Things – I’m fascinated to see large numbers of people turning out to see what Lanthimos has come up with. I can think of few other directors who have this ability to push boundaries and simultaneously satisfy the box office. I’m already excited to see what he will come up with next.

While this may not be the exquisite slice of cinematic perfection that was its predecessor, it’s nonetheless the work of a gifted director at the top of his game. Don’t miss it.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney