Writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos has a particular brand of weirdness that can at times be inaccessible for the population at large. He can be polarizing, with audiences either obsessing over his peculiar stories or vehemently opposing the absurdity. Less than a year after the massive success of his last film Poor Things (2023), which was awarded four Oscars including Best Actress, Lanthimos delivers a weird and wacky movie that likely won’t appeal to the masses. 

 

This time he tries his hand at an anthology and divides the movie into three separate stories while utilizing the same cast for each one. The first entry sees Robert’s (Jesse Plemons) life being dictated by his boss Raymond (Willem Dafoe). Everything, down to what he eats and reads and who he marries is controlled by Raymond. When he declines to kill a man, Robert’s carefully curated life unravels. 

 

The second story sees police officer Daniel (Jesse Plemons) struggling as his wife, Liz (Emma Stone) has been missing for several days. When she is found, things aren’t quite right and Daniel begins to suspect that the woman living with him is not really his wife. What ensues is a bizarre story that involves cutting off body parts and testing the limits of love. 

 

The final story focuses on Andrew (Jesse Plemons) and Emily (Emma Stone) as they meticulously search for a young woman who has healing powers. The duo are part of a cult led by Omi (Willem Dafoe) and live in a compound with strict rules about sex when they’re not out hunting for the miraculous prophet. 

 

There isn’t any overlap between the stories, other than the cast that portrays them. But the themes of love, abandonment, and the depths humans will go for the things they love is evident throughout all three. Plus, there is Lanthimos’ ever-present touch of derangement that seeps into each story. Instances of absurdity feel a tad forced here as you watch Liz chop off her own finger with a kitchen knife and a cutting board. That’s usually the beauty of Lanthimos films—he makes the disturbing feel like an integral part of the fabric of the story, so it’s easy to accept it as such. While that typically makes his films so interesting to consume, with Kinds of Kindness it feels more labored. 

The trio of Dafoe, Stone, and Plemons easily slip into and out of each character as we move from story to story. Plemons in particular shines as he pivots from an insecure architect to a police officer to a cult member. Despite the wonderful acting, even the most devoted Lanthimos fans might have a hard time sitting through the two hours and forty-four minutes. It feels long and transitions immediately from one story to the next with no break in between to digest. It can be tedious at times to sus out what’s happening as we’re plopped from one weird world to the next. And watching it isn’t so much fun as it is an exercise in patience and your willingness to throw out expectations. The reward of making it to the end of the movie might seem futile to some, but part of the appeal of Lanthimos is his ability to quash all forms of catharsis and leave viewers chewing on what they just watched long after the credits roll.