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Kimi is a meek thriller that doesn’t fully tap into the role of listening devices or the people who troubleshoot the AI behind them.
| Director(s) | Steven Soderbergh |
| Screenplay By | David Koepp |
| Date Released | 2/10/2022 |
| Where To Watch | HBO Max |
| Genre(s) | Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller |
| Duration | 1 Hour 29 Minutes |
| Content Rating | Rated R |
| Noted Cast | |
| Angela | Zoë Kravitz |
| Terry | Byron Bowers |
Film Summary
For the company Amygdala, Angela assists with its personal assistant technology, Kimi, improving its results. This is the perfect job for her due to becoming agoraphobic due to COVID-19 and being assaulted in the past. However, with hearing Kimi pick up a potential murder, Angela is coerced to leave her apartment to make sure the person potentially killed gets justice.
Cast & Character Guide
Please Note: This is not an exhaustive list of every cast member.
Angela
For most of her career that we know of, Angela has worked in the tech sector. She was a moderator at Facebook and now works for the up-and-coming Amygdala, which is a week away from its IPO. But, outside of her day job, Angela suffers from agoraphobia, mainly due to COVID-19 and being assaulted. Beyond that? It is shown she doesn’t necessarily have the best relationship with her mother but does remember her dad fondly. In fact, her dad helped her make her home to her standards and taught her a thing or two since he worked in construction.
Terry
Terry is a local prosecutor who bonded with Angela during the height of the pandemic by talking to one another at their windows. Which eventually evolved into them being friendly and sexual – maybe romantic.
Other Noteworthy Information
- Reason(s) for Film Rating: Nudity (Bare beasts), blood, Sexual Content, violence
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- So many.
Review
Low Points
Minimal Development On The or Villain
Who is the woman who died beyond a mistress who says she was r**ed? Who knows? What do we know about the perpetrator besides his name, job, and him being rich enough to attempt to cover up what he did? Not much. This is a huge issue for it forces the entire weight of the film on Angela and, as noted in the next topic, there isn’t a lot done with her either.
On The Fence
Untapped Potential
In almost every which it could, Kimi fails to live up to its potential. It doesn’t dive into Angela’s agoraphobia and really explore how she acquired the disorder between COVID and her assault. Instead, it leaves you to ask a series of questions. One, was she a recluse before the COVID-19 pandemic, but now she has a valid excuse for not venturing outside? Two, is COVID is one of the reasons for her not venturing out, and she knows a thing or two about construction, why doesn’t she have a fancy air filtration system? Why, when forced outside, does she not have a mask of a higher grade? I understand she likely knows the science, but with us not getting to the root of whether her agoraphobia was germ-based, you’re left to the alternative.
The alternative is her assault. Which we know happened at a previous employer, but with the film not really touching upon it beyond noting it happened, so comes the question of how did she get past not only the fear of COVID but the anxiety which would come with being intimate with a stranger?
Now, yes, Angela knows where Terry lives, his job, and more, but the last person seemingly wasn’t a stranger either, and considering how she doesn’t seem receptive to therapy or her mother’s advice, I was left a bit confused. Why did she allow this specific man in her apartment and be intimate with him?
But, even beyond the agoraphobia angle, there is also her journey to try to get that woman justice. It isn’t really known what led to Angela working in tech or knowing how to strip out music layers to get to dialog. lWe know her father worked in construction, which explains some of her knowledge, but her educational background and interests growing up? That’s unknown.
Thus leaving you with a lead character whose motive is clear, thanks to this Kimi recording, but as for who she is? You get nothing.
Overall
Our Rating: Negative (Acquired Taste)
Not since July 2021 have we given a film a negative rating. Generally speaking, we lean heavy on the mixed label, but Kimi is hard to paint as divisive, for it doesn’t give you that much to feel one way or another about. It lacks character development and has the most bare-bones story. Despite all it could dive into regarding working in the tech world, living with agoraphobia, and more, Kimi avoids that. Instead, being assaulted, someone killed after accusing someone of r**e, a notable mental disorder, and more are just plot points rather than given the full weight they deserve. Hence the negative label.
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