A tech worker with agoraphobia discovers recorded evidence of a violent crime but is met with resistance when she tries to report it. Seeking justice, she must do the thing she fears the most: leave her apartment.
11 Nov Kimi (2022)
Powdered Banana
Here we have a master filmmaker, someone who can squeeze a brilliant vision out of just about anything. We have a very talented and experienced scriptwriter, someone who has impressed before. And a very competent actress who fills the role well. She has a scene where just after intense sex, while her lover is still in the bed she starts stripping the linens to wash. There are a few techniques used to indicate her issues/neurodiversity, but this is the most cinematically powerful.
So we have the three competencies we need. Why is this such a nondescript project? Why is this not worth watching? I think because the conditions under which it was made demanded utter simplicity. We forget that the movie business was doubly structured, both by covid and a crippling strike. Some of us wondered if we could ever recover. This is Soderbergh’s recovery film, something like ‘Chungking Express,’ but safe, safe, safe.
There’s another burden. We are asked to engage with the real, the deep real, in the character’s life. This only works if we buy into her reality. At the same time, the world is drawn from a familiar, utterly fake noir conspiracy universe that requires us accepting this fake surrounding situation. You can’t have it both ways.
Posted in 2024
Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
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