As expansive, varied and uplifting as the human condition can be, it is far too often plagued by cruel, venal, and disheartening behavior. So when filmmakers hold up a mirror to humanity, it’s not always going to be a pretty picture. Such is the case with the movies of Yorgos Lanthimos, and it also holds true for the first feature film from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker.
‘Kinds of Kindness’
In what feels like a quick turnaround after he released last year’s acclaimed period horror comedy (with a feminist subtext) Poor Things, Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos throws a bit of a curve with Kinds of Kindness — a three-story anthology feature that leans on the same core group of actors in different roles for each of the segments. So you get Poor Things stars Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe and that movie’s supporting player Margaret Qualley, plus Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, and Mamoudou Athie — all showing up in multiple parts. The three tales have their moments — darkly funny or disturbing — and are rife with cynicism about the ways and means that inform interpersonal behavior and our aspirations.
The first concerns an increasingly conflicted man (Plemons) whose seemingly conventional white-collar job, complete with a corporate office, actually consists of just doing whatever his whimsical and cruel boss (Dafoe) tells him to do — no matter how absurd or destructive. The second is about a cop (Plemons) whose missing wife (Stone) returns after a long period away, but he begins to think she’s an imposter. The third follows the trials of a spurned cult member (Stone) who is determined to be granted reentry to the group by finding a person with supernatural capabilities that the cult covets.
One might divine connections between the individual tales, beyond the use of the same main actors throughout. In all three scenarios, we see the lengths that people will go to be taken seriously and to gain acceptance — regardless of who is doing the accepting. And it helps that all of the cast members fully commit to what the screenplay gives them, no matter how weird. Plemons is especially top-notch as his three wackadoodle characters. But compared to the two recent Lanthimos movies that preceded it (2023’s Poor Things and 2018’s The Favourite), it feels too immersed in a deep well of cynicism and too long at a whopping, borderline exhausting two hours and 44 minutes to hold up with his best efforts. The convolutions that knot up Kinds of Kindness almost make it seem too smart for its own good, and on the comedic side, it’s not quite funny enough amid the bizarre goings-on to garner more than a chuckle.
His 2015 satirical sci-fi fantasy The Lobster — the English-language breakthrough for Lanthimos — may have made some startling points about the feckless way men and women interact in the search for love and comfort. As original as it was, it could be said to have lost its way on the narrative side by its third act — something that Poor Things and The Favourite avoided, as did 2017’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which is the filmmaker’s deeply twisted tale of a family in the thrall of a dangerous young lunatic. By the way, he co-wrote Kinds of Kindness with Efthimis Filippou, his collaborator on The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Even if it’s a lesser work by the director, Kinds of Kindness has its share of eye-opening, insightful, disturbing, and brutally funny high points that are unique to Lanthimos. The cinematography is as expertly executed as expected from someone so honored and successful, yet it doesn’t necessarily beg for a theatrical showing like Poor Things does with its ornate settings and baroque art direction. Factoring in that considerable running time, perhaps Kinds of Kindness might best be watched in three installments on home video. But if you have the inclination and patience, it’s currently in theaters.
‘Janet Planet’
Julianne Nicholson brought sweetness and charm to her performance as an ingénue lawyer in a later season of TV’s legal rom-com series Ally McBeal. And given a significant part in the recent HBO series Mare of Easttown, she held her own opposite the show’s star, Kate Winslet. Now, Nicholson triumphs as the adult lead in Janet Planet — a mother-daughter drama set during the summer of 1991 in rural Western Massachusetts. Nicholson plays hippie acupuncturist Janet Planet (yes, that’s the name she goes by) whose less-than-stable romantic life and spiritual quests seem to be more significant to her than the needs of her daydreaming 11-year-old daughter, Lacy. This creates a subtle schism in the relationship between Janet and Lacy that plays out with quiet intensity.
Written and directed by Annie Baker, Janet Planet has a languid quality like an August day in a meadow. It’s a finely wrought, challenging-to-watch portrait of flawed people. And it’s brilliantly acted by Nicholson, little Zoe Ziegler as Lacy and the esteemed likes of Elias Koteas, Will Patton, and Sophie Okonedo — a lofty trio of thespian talent for this no-frills project. Those strong performances amplify the bittersweet quality of watching Lacy flounder in the wake of Janet’s self-absorbed pursuits, until the girl decides to stand up for herself. When it comes to evoking a certain smug, purportedly alternative, holier-than-thou segment of society, it’s easy to recommend Janet Planet — Baker’s insightful movie, not the questionably solipsistic woman.
Updated: June 27, 2024
