Giorgos Lanthimos' Kinetta is the story of three enigmatic characters: a detective of some sort who is seemingly obsessed with luxury cars, most specificially BMWs, a part-time photographer who has a day job as a clerk, and a hotel maid with a death fetish. Living in a desolate resort town in the off-season, these three unique characters are caught in the flux of life, looking for some type of meaning or purpose, filming outlandish re-enactments of various murder scenes together in some type of attempt to give their lives purpose. Giorgos Lanthimos first lone feature film, Kinetta, is as ambiguous and as enigmatic as you'd expect from the director of such films as Dogtooth and Alps. Lanthimos films tend to be about what people are like when no one is watching, observant studies of lonely characters who more so than not are in isolation, and Kinetta is no different. Viewers beware, Kinetta is a challenging and somewhat laborious viewing experience about the social and emotional detachment of these characters, which Lanthimos uses to slowly reveal the perplexities that exist in human behavior. Feauturing very little actual dialogue, the film has more in common with a silent film, using wide lenses and positioned compositions that help evoke this sense of loneliness and isolation, with Lanthimos often filling the frame with empty space, personifying these characters own personal emptiness. The meta aspect of the film is an interesting touch, with these poorly reenacted murder sequences seeminlgy the only outlet for these characters to feel alive, giving them a glimpse of connection, as they act and recreate these sequences of human interaction. The reenactments give these characters purpose, giving them the ability to create something, instead of passively drifting through life. Darkly comic and tonally cold, Kinetta features scattered moments of emotionally weight throughout its story, most supplied by the maid, who I personally found to be the most interesting character in the film. While the maid's death fetish is banal and underdeveloped, Lanthimos' vision feels most clear and concise through the treatment of this character, being the catalyst for some of the film's more introspective moments. The maid is a character who seem completely detached from the outiside world, cleaning after society but not feeling a part of society. The re-enactments she acts in are her way to feel alive, as we routinely see her toying with the idea of suicide while alone. On the otherhand is the photographer, a man who seems to be haunted by images of death that cling to his consciouness. Lanthimos seems to suggest that filming is some form of therapy for this man, a way to exonerate some of his darker memories. A challenging and enigmatic viewering experience, Giorgos Lanthimos is a darkly comic and obtuse piece of filmmaking that is likely only to be enjoyed by more adventurous viewers.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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