Abe says, “Where you want this killin’ done?”
God says, “Out on Highway 51.”
– Bob Dylan, “Highway 51 Revisited”
Some movies leave you scratching your head.
I remember seeing David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” more than 20 years ago at the old Nickelodeon Cinema in North Falmouth. When it was over, an elderly gent stood in the middle of the aisle, stared defiantly at the screen and blurted out, “What the hell was that?”
That’s a typical reaction to Lynch’s surreal efforts, and the work of many other filmmakers, including Charlie Kaufman, Lars von Trier and Ari Aster.
These films issue a challenge and give you a choice.
The challenge is to answer the question the geezer asked at the end of “Mulholland Drive”: What the hell was that all about?
Emma Stone plays three characters in “Kinds of Kindness.” (Yorgos Lanthimos/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
This can be a good thing. Rather than spoon feeding the audience everything like, arguably, most Hollywood products do – “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.” doesn’t leave us with much to mull over – these films invite a moviegoer’s participation, to either guess the filmmaker’s intentions or, better yet, to come up with one’s own interpretations.
The question, though, is whether it’s worth the effort, and that’s where the choice comes in. Life is short, so how much time do we want to spend on a movie – or, similarly, a novel, whether it’s Joyce’s “Ulysses” or David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest”?
Some movies, such as “Mulholland Drive” or Charlotte Welles’ more recent “Aftersun,” are well worth spending time and effort to decipher. But other head-scratchers haven’t yielded the same rewards (to me, at least) – largely, perhaps, because I haven’t felt inclined to spend the same amount of time on them.
Why? I have loathed them.
Such films include Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid” and “Midsommar,” von Trier’s “Antichrist” and “Dancer in the Dark” (though his “Dogville” and “Melancholia” are gripping), and Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” All have struck me as relentlessly repulsive, or misanthropic, or depressing, or flat-out ugly in their view of life, to the point that, even recognizing that they are ambitious in their ways, I’d rather not wallow in the muck.
Jesse Plemons, center, appears with Margaret Qualley and Willem Dafoe in “Kinds of Kindness.” (Atsushi Nishijima/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
(I assume at this point some readers, especially those who disagree with me about these films, are thinking: “How middle-brow! Get outside your comfort zone, you philistine!” And maybe you’re right. Several people whose opinions I deeply respect have loved, say, “Midsommar.” Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind on some of these films – though I doubt it. Also, by the way, I don’t mean to imply I have a problem with dark material: Jonathan Glazer’s Auschwitz-based “Zone of Interest” doesn’t exactly provide a Pollyannaish view of life, and it was one of my favorite movies of last year, and I could give many other examples. My proclivity for showing dark films in class, in fact, once earned me the moniker “The Prince of Darkness.”)
All of this is my looooooong preamble to Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness” (R, 164 minutes, in theaters), an oddly provocative comedy likely to draw a WTF reaction from at least some filmgoers.
Lanthimos is on a hot streak. His previous two feature films – “Poor Things” and “The Favourite” – earned him Academy Award nominations for best film and best director, and the leads of those films, Emma Stone and Olivia Colman, respectively, won the best-actress Oscar.
He’s teamed with Stone again, and Jesse Plemons, for “Kinds of Kindness,” which is divided into three stories, with the two stars and several supporting cast members (including Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau and Margaret Qualley) playing different roles in each.
The first involves Robert (Plemons), an executive whose boss (Dafoe) makes every decision for him, including what he wears, what he eats and when he has sex with his wife (Chau). Robert runs afoul with his boss when he refuses one of the boss’ “requests.”
The second piece focuses on a cop, Daniel (Plemons), whose missing wife (Stone), feared dead, is found and returns home, only for him to question whether she’s really his wife.
In Story No. 3, cult members Emily (Stone) and Andrew (Plemons) seek an unknown woman who, according to prophecy, has spiritual healing powers that include the ability to raise the dead.
All three segments are occasionally funny (with one flat-out hilarious twist midway through the second), bleak and creepy. They’re also open to interpretation, and some moviegoers can be excused for thinking Lanthimos is just being weird for weirdness’ sake.
I’ve watched the movie twice, and both times I left with the same impressions regarding what the film could be about and how well it succeeds.
My best guess is the segments are dealing with religion and spirituality: with characters blindly following orders, Old Testament style (see Dylan quote above), in the first; choosing to worship a God that suits one’s personal inclinations – with possibly a shift from Old to New Testament (with a resurrection) in the mix – in the second; and, in the third, joining a cluster of like-minded people in a desperate search for belonging and purpose.
Then again, these stories could be commentaries on our current political climate, with large segments of our population preferring a wannabe dictator to freedom (Segment 1), perceiving a leader in a way that suits their desires rather than in a way that reflects reality (Segment 2), and exhibiting a cultish belief in a con man (Segment 3).
Or these stories could be about none of the above. It’s really up to you.
Of course, it’s also up to you to decide whether whatever you think this movie is saying adds up to much. Is it profound? Is it enlightening? Inspiring? Entertaining?
Or is it mostly just cynical posturing? I watched it twice, and both times that’s how it struck me. And now I’m ready to move on. ** (out of four)
** Click here for Tim Miller’s previous movie columns for Cape Cod Wave **
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Tim Miller
Tim Miller is co-president of the Boston Society of Film Critics and a Tomatometer-approved critic. He teaches film and journalism at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or follow him onTwitter @TimMillerCritic. Or you can ignore him completely.
