Lynda Joy Gerry

This film made me deeply uncomfortable, and I was relieved when it was over. am fairly familiar with Lanthimos' style of storytelling and filmmaking. To give a bit of context -- I have seen Dogtooth, The Favorite, the Lobster, and Poor Things from Yargos Lanthimos. I enjoyed all of these except for Dogtooth, but I felt that even Dogtooth had an interesting premise. Kinds of Kindness, by contrast, crossed several thresholds and boundaries for what I think is appropriate and acceptable to portray on screen. Specifically also -- if there had been some greater message expressing strong values, then I might have been more patient with the film. Instead, so far as I could tell -- the rape, suicide, self-mutilation, and violence was all presented just for the absurdity and dark comedy but had no greater message. To its credit, the film does have some funny dialogue and shock-value absurdity that made me laugh. Alas, the film felt arrogant and self-indulgent. Also, a serious trigger warning is necessary for anyone who has experienced sexual assault: the portrayal of this is very realistic.