Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Kinds of Kindness:
Infinity Pool
There are some real highlights in Brandon Cronenberg‘s newest art house horror movie, mainly the chemistry between Alexander Skarsgard and Mia Goth. But Infinity Pool struggles to build into anything beyond a set of shocking horror images and audacious scenes.
Inland Empire
Inland Empire is not nearly the best David Lynch movie, but it sure is the strangest. It bounces from loosely connected vignettes at a moments notice. Lynch finds a groove with help from a trio of solid performances, headlined by Laura Dern as the main character capable of morphing when required.
Men
Now nearly two years removed from its initial release date, Alex Garland’s Men for A24 feels underrated. A body horror home invasion movie featuring one of Hollywood’s best actresses in Jessie Buckley, the film is a shift in tone and themes from Garland’s previous works, transitioning from stories involving anxiety we have about the advancement of technology, to the societal and gender issues that plague our society.
Poor Things
At the heart of Poor Things is Emma Stone‘s exceptionally dedicated performance, making a compelling case for her second Oscar for Best Actress. Her willingness to embrace daring characters and collaborate with auteurs like Yorgos Lanthimos reinforces her status as one of the industry’s leading performers.
The Substance
A vaguely named, neon green liquid is at the center of The Substance, the sophomore effort from director Coralie Fargeat following her successful debut Revenge (2017). The titular substance is capable of delivering happiness to those desiring to look younger and more attractive. Accompanied by a strict list of rules involving when to take the substance and how to maintain the younger self the injection inevitably births, the chances of a user mishandling such a lethal experimental drug is absurdly high.
Don’t Worry Darling
While it’s easy to point fingers and blame the film’s issues on just a few individuals, Don’t Worry Darling, at its core, is flawed. A meandering story can’t be saved by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles.
Blue Velvet
If for nothing else, Blue Velvet serves as a key to unlock the filmography of David Lynch, as if every subsequent movie would take bits and pieces from Blue Velvet and expand them into their own ideas and themes. It’s cryptic, morally ambiguous, and set in the heart of a deep underbelly within small town life. The film is beguiling as hell, and even features many of Lynch’s recurring actors and actresses, led by Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern. The movie isn’t as nearly as cut-and-dry as its noir elements suggest and its contemporaries often were, and it seems that public consensus has only further improved since Blue Velvet‘s release in 1986.
Enemy
Enemy‘s true power lies in its ambiguity. Unlike conventional narratives that spoon-feed answers, Denis Villeneuve invites the audience to actively participate in unraveling the movie’s enigmatic plotlines. The recurring spider motif becomes a potent symbol, open to individual interpretation. Is it a harbinger of danger, a manifestation of repressed desires, or simply a narrative thread to guide us through the inner turmoil of Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal)? The beauty lies in the absence of definitive answers for Enemy, where Denis allows you to form your own conclusions.
Bugonia
Whether Bugonia “counts” as an alien film is part of the gag, and I will not spoil that. What matters is that Yorgos Lanthimos uses the premise to pry at paranoia, credulity, and the way hurt curdles into certainty. The first half plays a little too straight, the second half finally swings. I liked this space for him more than his recent detours, even if the result lands in the middle of the pack.
Magnolia
Magnolia might feel a bit like the film that got away from Paul Thomas Anderson (because it kinda is), but it’s the sort of big-budget passion project that up-and-coming filmmakers rarely get to make nowadays. The ensemble cast of Magnolia is littered with A-listers and common Paul Thomas Anderson players, from Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman to Tom Cruise and John C. Reilly, each actor adds their own weight to this shotgun blast of characters.
READ MORE: Kinds of Kindness (2024), Yorgos Lanthimos, Movies Like Poor Things
