KIMI - Review
KIMI - Review
What if something was not only listening to your every conversation but recording it too? And what if we were willingly letting that something into our homes? Whilst this may sound like the set up to a Black Mirror episode, it is actually the inciting concern of Steven Soderbergh’s new playful thriller KIMI. The titular KIMI is that precise something: an advanced voice-activated speaker come life-organiser akin to Amazon’s Alexa. However,
unlike the latter, whenever a miscommunication occurs between a KIMI set and their user,
a real person listens to it, codes the solution and makes sure the machine will understand
going forward. One of those coders is Angela (Zoë Kravitz) who, upon hearing something
potentially criminal in her daily troubleshooting, suddenly becomes embroiled in conspiracy
and danger.
Much like Steven Soderbergh’s previous film No Sudden Move, KIMI is not afraid to lean into its genre and influences, drawing heavily on other paranoid thrillers such as The Conversation and Rear Window. Nevertheless, this is an almost seamless blending of many disparate influences, looking not only to draw from the cinematic past but also the present. As much of the film is set within Angela’s apartment, which is both her living space and her office, KIMI presents a ‘not-so alternate’ modern day where covid-19 is waning but very much still a concern and where technology is an accepted, integral aspect of daily life. Refreshingly, the concerns surrounding the virus are acknowledged within dialogue, as are those around the ethics of the technology. I say all this, not only because it is important context, but because this is in many ways the bulk of the film. The protagonist suffers from agoraphobia, another somewhat Hitchcockian conceit that seems to mirror his tradition of using psychology as material primarily for plot and spectacle rather than a true exploration of identity and mental health (Vertigo being the most obvious example). Thus, the kafkaesque bureaucracy that Angela faces when reporting the incident initially begins on zoom and over many phone calls on hold. This, of course, then worsens when the resistance to Angela’s concerns appears to begin to resemble conspiracy and leaves Angela with no choice but to leave her house in search of answers.
Whilst before much of the drama was inward, this catapults the film into a much more expansive landscape, tackling the ethics of global tech companies and leaving Angela in an inescapable web of lies and danger that resembles the way Warren Beatty becomes trapped by the political establishment in the wonderfully tense thriller The Parallax View. However, this is not suggesting that all tech is bad and you should go home and bin your Google Mini, since, although KIMI as a corporation is very much the villain, it is undeniable that its technology is key in decoding and investigating the crime. Moreover, despite borrowing many of its aspects from more serious thrillers, KIMI ultimately has a playful and knowing tone that manages to balance its more thoughtful themes with its pulpy genre core. At a lean 85 minutes, this makes for an extremely watchable and enjoyable film that, although exploring the anxieties surrounding both modern technology and covid-19, still provides an escapist film involving hired killers and lengthy chase scenes. Underlining all of this is stylish cinematography by Soderbergh himself (credited under his commonly used pseudonym Peter Andrews) which makes good use of the limited indoor spaces and contrasts them brilliantly with the fast-moving, handheld tracking shots of Angela’s anxious journey into the city.
Overall, it is a film that embodies many influences, embraces genre and showcases Soderbergh’s deft touch for creating entertaining cinema on a low budget. Whilst it’s ideas may be somewhat superficial and underdeveloped, they still make for an intriguing and thoughtful background from which the plot is allowed to develop. There is nothing of astounding note here but every aspect of the production is slick and well-crafted, resulting in a playful thriller that is a worthy addition to the genre canon.
KIMI is available to watch now on NOW / Sky Cinema.