2024-08-31 07:40:05
Kinds of Kindness is now streaming on Hulu, which means you can watch, from the comfort of your couch, Jesse Plemons’s character watch his own sex tape, from the comfort of his couch. Really makes you think!
Jesse Plemons watching his own sex tape is just one of many absurd, obscene moments featured in Kinds of Kindness, the new dark comedy from Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos. Kinds of Kindness is an anthology film consisting of three shorts, all starring Plemons, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, and Mamoudou Athie in different roles. The second story, titled “R.M.F. Is Flying,” stars Plemons as a cop named Daniel, grieving his wife Liz (Emma Stone), who is lost at sea.
In an effort to cheer him up, Daniel’s buddy Neil (Mamoudou Athie) and Neil’s wife Martha (Margaret Qualley), go to Daniel’s house for dinner. Daniel is clearly touched by their kindness, and their optimism that his Liz will return. At one point during the night, Plemons reaches for his co-stars’ hands.
“Thank you so much, both of you,” he says, earnest as anything. “For everything.” Then, still gripping his friends hands, he asks them, “Do you mind if we watched a video? One of the old ones?”
It’s so tentative, so hopeful, so tender, and so sweet. It’s heartbreaking when Athie’s character, Neil, attempts to let his friend down easy. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Daniel. I think we’d all find that a little awkward.”
Plemons starts to beg. “Just a little? A minute, no more. To remember her by.”
“I really don’t think we should. It won’t do you any good, and it’ll be pretty strange for us, too,” Qualley’s character, Martha, replies. “You already showed us those wonderful photos of Liz on the boat, on her travels.”
“OK,” Plemons responds, dejected. He drains his drink, then pours another. Then he begins to cry. Athie and Qualley share an anguished look. Finally, they relent.
“OK, OK,” Athie rubs Plemons back in comfort. “We can watch a little of that video.”
“Thank you,” Plemmons says. Then he immediately stops crying, and gets up to put on the video. That little faker!
The best part? The video that Plemons was tearfully pleading to watch? It’s a sex tape, featuring Plemons, Athie, Stone, and Qualley engaged in an enthusiastic orgy.
Athie and Qualley watch in obvious discomfort, while their own moans and gasps emanate from the screen. Athie asks Plemons to turn down the volume, and Plemons begrudgingly complies. But even with the volume turned down, Plemons is locked in. He watches, with rapt attention, the TV versions of himself and Athie rail the TV versions of Stone and Qualley from behind.
The tape cuts to a different part of this night of debauchery, to a shot of Qualley going down on Plemons, while he smashes his face into Stone’s chest. It’s a little too explicit to screenshot for this article, but trust us, it’s there. And, really, after seeing this tape, who can blame Plemons for wanting to watch it all the damn time? This man has a sex tape of Emma Stone and Margaret Qualley at his fingertips! Wouldn’t you beg your friends to watch that?
Much like the rest of Kinds of Kindness, this scene is both very explicit, very weird, and very silly. You’ll never be bored, and you’ll certainly be entertained. So go ahead, watch this movie with some friends on your couch at home. Even if it makes your friends uncomfortable.
