Kinds of Kindness (2024) review

Three part "absurdist" anthology film from Lanthimos has the same cast playing different roles in each: for the first ("The Death of R.M.F."), Robert (Jesse Plemons) is subjected to the whims of his sociopathic employer Raymond (Willem Dafoe) so when he's ordered to kill a man named R.M.F. (Yorgos Stefanakos) with his car a second time (the original attempt wasn't successful) and refuses, he's fired and his life falls apart, in the middle section ("R.M.F. Is Flying") cop Daniel (Plemons) is distraught over the disappearance of his researcher wife Liz (Emma Stone), yet once she reappears he's convinced it isn't "really her" and for the last third ("R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich"), married couple (and cult members) Andrew (Plemons, looking like William T. Vollmann) and Emily (Stone) are trying to locate a mysterious woman (Margaret Qualley) who can raise the dead.  I enjoyed the opening segment quite a bit with its Kubrickian iciness and haunting piano notes (which was no doubt inspired by Eyes Wide Shut) but the other two pieces feel like half-cocked ideas (surrealism is difficult to pull off), and even the "connective components" (faked injuries, laced beverages, etc.) are flimsy.  The assembled talent, however, does not disappoint: Plemons won Best Actor at Cannes, Stone's versatility is well-established by now and Dafoe can shift easily from evil boss to emasculated father to charismatic bisexual fiend.  The "kindness" referenced in the title is clearly a cruel joke: this is largely about power and control, which - if you ask me - isn't very nice at all.