KIMI

 2022, d. Steven Soderbergh - HBO Max

Soderbergh took a sabbatical from making films in 2013 leaving Side Effects and Behind the Candelabra as his last releases.  He cited fatigue and dissatisfaction as his reason for leaving film, but it didn't take.  He promptly returned with the TV series The Knick in 2014 and Mosaic in 2015, both for HBO.  In 2016 he announced he was working on Logan Lucky, and since it's release in 2017, he's made at least one film per year, if not more.  

His turnaround, his re-invigoration is a result of the drastic shift in filmmaking technology, simplifying the filmmaking process for him.  Soderbergh has always had an experimental bent, and has always been prolific, but since return he's been pushing his limits, seeing how much ambition he can pack into a quick shoot and low budget.  Unlike many directors, he's not shy about the medium of delivery, his last five films appearing on either Netflix or HBO Max, and it's clear that talent is still very keen to work regardless of the medium. Meryl Streep, Benicio Del Toro, Antonio Banderas, Gary Oldman, Don Cheadle, Candice Bergen, Jon Hamm among others have all appeared in these recent films.

His latest stars Zoe Kravitz in a classic-styled thriller that plays like a cross between Rear Window and Blow-Out, with Saul Bass opening credits and a Hitchcock cameo seemingly the only things missing.  In the film a Google Home/Alexa alternative, KIMI, is about to launch its initial public offering.  Their differentiating point is that rather than using an AI to refine its system it uses people to resolve errors in understanding.  Kravitz is Angela, one of those people, working from her Seattle apartment, which, we quickly learn she confines herself to due to crippling anxiety.  While processing her daily log of errors, she comes across a partial recording, a troubling clip that seems to indicate an assault in process.  The film then follows her as she tries to figure out what to do next.

Despite the fact that Angela has confined herself to her apartment, there is a whole microcosm around her.  In the building across the way is a guy whom she's been having a dalliance with, but is frustrated with her agoraphobia. Her upstairs neighbour is renovating his apartment so there's some friendly conflict there.  Another neighbour is always in his window looking out.  Angela talks with her mom, her therapist, coworkers and consults with her dentist on video chat.  In the background, the COVID pandemic is still in effect, but later stages where people can be in public but with masks.  And there are protests, in this case revolving around caring for the homeless, but invoking Black Lives Matters.  All of these elements come into play as Angela uncovers the truth behind the crime.

It's not a complicated film.  The "conspiracy", if you will, is fairly straightforward and obvious, given the set-up in the opening moment, but it's more about how Angela, an atypical protagonist, handles the situation she's in, using her wits, and her anxiety, to survive. 

Soderbergh bring his visual flare to the piece, really embracing the natural light in a way that is somehow very lavish, but real.  His camera is playful with how it represents Angela's emotional state, and, as ever, a master of sound as a real controlling aspect of the story.  It's a rare sub-90-minute film that presents a familiar tale but with modern surroundings, not life changing, but a engaging watch.