Kinds of Kindness

With Javier Julia's Argentinian revenge sextalogy Wild Tales being the exception that proves the rule, there are no great anthology films. Yorgos Lanthimos's Kinds of Kindness may also not be great, but it's an intriguing little spin on both the concept of the anthology film and the way an acclaimed director follow-ups up their biggest hit. Poor Things, the unexpected smash and critical darling that won multiple Oscars, BAFTAs, and other prestigious awards, was barely out of theaters when this amusing but aliening picture premiered at Cannes and then rolled out across various countries. With this A-list triptych of darkly comedic, sexually deviant absurdism, Lanthimos seems to want to acquaint all his new, young Poor Things fans with the type of filmmaker he always was. I appreciated the small scale and the minimal ambition this seemed to represent, and I enjoyed all the unexpected places these stories went. Good dirty fun.