Oakland International Film Festival, Poetry Walk, and a Film Review
A Yorgos Lanthimos Film Review, our film at the Oakland International Film Festival, and the 2024 Petaluma Poetry Walk
Save the Dates
Friday the 13th Screening! 8pm, September 13, 2024
Our film “Werewolf Serenade” is screening at the Oakland International Film Festival
Mills College at Northeastern University
5000 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland, CA
Come see our independent werewolf comedy on the big screen in Oakland (Kamala Harris’s hometown)! So exciting!
Sunday September 15, 2024
27th Annual Petaluma Poetry Walk
25 poets, 8 venues, 27 years — and it’s even free! For the Schedule, go to: PetalumaPoetryWalk.org
We pay all the poets, so please donate to help make that happen!
And Now, A Brief Film Review: ”Kinds of Kindness”
Kinds of Kindness is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the same director as Poor Things, which is one of my favorites. Kinds of Kindness brings back some of the actors from Poor Things, including Emma Stone and Willem DaFoe, and adds others, including Margaret Qualley, Hong Chao, Jesse Plemons (who won best actor at Cannes for this film), and Mamoudou Athie.
Twisted Twists
The framing of the film—a trilogy of short films— creates an ensemble cast effect with the new actors who are all in each of the three stories playing ostensibly different people. Their acting draws you in, as does the surreal landscape (in New Orleans but not called New Orleans) that is is beautifully weird, and the relationships between characters are unique, complicated, and creepy.
It really “goes there” so maybe it’s not for the faint of heart, but the cannibalism, orgies, and more that I won’t even describe are all done in an art-film way that affects a sort-of “all in a day’s work” kind of vibe. As far as nudity, yes, but also in a very—if not tasteful—just everyday feeling kind of way that isn’t usually seen in film.
If You Like “Weird Shit”
It’s an “absurdist dark comedy”, and an art film in a sea of solely market-driven movies. And unlike the claims of the film May December that say it’s a dark comedy when it’s clearly just dark, Kinds of Kindness really is a twisted, surreal, dark comedy with endings that really pay off. If you like “weird shit” like I do, this is it.