The critics largely panned this, and I admit that it took me a while to get around to watching it for that reason, but… Lanthimos is Lanthimos, and when a best friend described her reaction to this as “flabbergasted” last week, I just had to watch it then and there. “Flabbergasted” was a perfect term.

I imagine that this project was hatched during the making of his last film. As he often does, he retained most of the actors from the hugely successful Poor Things, and went on to make Kinds of Kindness with them. I suspect there was a lot of input from this stellar cast, Emma Stone in particular (this is just me speculating…). Mark Ruffalo, who was brilliant in Poor Things, was swapped out for Jesse Plemons, who took it to a whole ‘nother level(s). “It girl” Margaret Qually graduated from bit part (Dafoe (as “God”)’s new experiment at the end of Poor Things) to powerhouse character(s).

One of our guests tonight had seen Kinds of Kindness before, and wanted to see it again, suspecting that a second watching would bring more focus. He was right.

In the meantime, I found this article that, aside from one minor inaccuracy*, explains a lot.

*The hair caught in the swimming pool pump was not one of the synchronized swimmer twins’.

What can I say? The Night of the Iguana never fails to entertain, and certainly didn’t fail this evening. This was our 7th screening in 20 years. Can you believe it’s been 20 years? OMG.

Tonight’s short was another perennial favorite: Anna Mantzaris’ first year film at the Royal College of Art, Enough

“The death of a grandmother, the grief of a parent, the acquisition of a new friend — these ordinary experiences, occurring over a few weeks in the life of an 8-year-old girl, provide the basic narrative structure of this spare, perfect film. Whether it’s best described as a modern-dress fairy tale, a psychological ghost story or a low-tech time travel fantasy is up to you. What’s certain is that the performances of Josephine and Gabrielle Sanz, real-life twins playing possibly imaginary friends, have a clarity and purity that Sciamma (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”) deploys for maximum emotional impact.” (A. O. Scott – The New York Times)

Indeed, Petite Maman left us afloat in the sort of warm comfort that a young child might find in their morning bowl of hot chocolate… a quintessential French breakfast fare.  Another fine movie night at NewScreen.

Less well received tonight was our short, which featured Kyiv rapper, Tricky Nicki’s Ride for Ukraine (in English). I guess people here have the luxury of being tired of the war already?