The string of awards won by the 50 year old Lanthimos is almost too long to list but Cannes audiences know his work from the Greek psychological drama Dogtooth that won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Lanthimos's absurdist black comedy The Lobster won the Jury Prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a psychological horror, premiered in competition in Cannes in 2017.
Lanthimos is a master of subversion and ambiguity and playing safe is not in his vocabulary. Needless to say Kinds of Kindness arrives in Cannes with very high expectations from audiences and critics alike. The cast with Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Hunter Schafer and other highly regarded Cannes favourites has heightened the sense of anticipation. Lanthimos has co-written the script with Efthimis Filippou, who also co-wrote Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Kinds of Kindness is about three separate but interwoven stories built around the initials R.M.F. by a man played by Yorgos Stefanakos is known. The three stories The Death of R.M.F, R.D.F. Is Flying and R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich each have their own cast list and look like separate films but they feed into each other. The stories follow a man who has agreed to live without choice in return for security who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman whose wife who was missing-at-sea returns but seems a different person; and a woman trying to find someone who she believes is destined to become a great spiritual leader.
Visuals are always a stunning part of any Lanthimos film and the director has teamed up with cinematographer Robbie Ryan for the film, which was mostly shot in and around New Orleans. For music the director has invited English composer Jerskin Fendrix who also composed the score for Poor Things. The film runs nearly three hours but for fans of Lanthimos unique style this should be a treat.
Credits:
Kinds of Kindness (USA/UK)
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer
