Why 'Kinds of Kindness' Sucked

people actually walked out of the theater mid-film

Lemme first say that I was looking forward to seeing this movie. And being in a packed, local theater got me all excited and hopeful.

But like a conversation at a party with a man who loves to throw around the word “triptych,” Kinds of Kindness is only a little intriguing until it suddenly isn’t at all. Lanthimos’ dark, absurdist drama doesn’t earn its disturbing scenes, which are the movie’s horrific bread and butter: rape, forced abortions, a woman’s corpse just after she’s cut out her own liver. And it definitely doesn’t earn two hours and 45 minutes of our attention.

“Skinny white women being dragged across the floor with their tits out,” as one friend put it as we were leaving the theater, is an apt description of this movie — unmistakably written and directed by white men. Another friend — along with a couple other viewers — simply left the premises before the film’s third act.

The predictability of the plot line is just as disappointing as the persistent suffering and female nudity. Performances were lackluster, but I think the writing was more responsible for that than the actors were.

It’s the kind of movie that makes me think about all the brilliant movies that aren’t being made because the industry is built to favor the same directors and their usual muses.

2/10