Plot: During the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle, an agoraphobic tech worker discovers evidence of a violent crime while reviewing a data stream, and is met with resistance and bureaucracy when she tries reporting it to her company. To get involved, she realizes she must face her greatest fear by venturing out of her apartment and into the city streets, which are filled with protestors after the city council passes a law restricting the movements of the homeless population.
Review: Steven Soderbergh is the perfect filmmaker for the streaming era. When given a budget, a camera, a script, and a cast, Soderbergh sets off to make the best movie he can. Sometimes filming on iPhones and sometimes with more traditional tools, Soderbergh was in no way impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. His latest, Kimi, went into production at the height of the coronavirus and incorporates elements into the plot of the film. Featuring a stellar performance from Zoe Kravitz, Kimi is a Hitchcockian thriller told through the lens of modern technology that serves as a cautionary tale as well as a solid thriller.
Zoe Kravitz plays Angela Childs, a tech worker for the Amygdala Corporation who market an Alexa-like device called Kimi. Rather than using artificial intelligence, Kimi utilizes human analysts who review the requests people make which also gives them the ability to listen in on private conversations. When Angela hears something she wasn’t supposed to, it kicks off a paranoid chase which is compounded by the fact that she is agoraphobic trying to survive in the middle of a global pandemic. For much of the first half of the film, we see Angela in her Seattle apartment and communicating with everyone via videoconferencing including her mother (Robin Givens), therapist (Emily Kuroda), dentist (David Wain), and coworkers. The sole in-person interaction she has is with her neighbor across the street, Terry (Byron Bowers).
When it becomes evident that Angela will not be able to address what she witnessed remotely, she dons a mask and grabs some hand sanitizer, and heads downtown to meet Natalie Chowdhury (Rita Wilson). From there, Kimi takes a turn from being a Rear Window-esque thriller to something a bit more action-oriented. Using protests in Seattle as a backdrop, Angela must navigate technological surveillance and some physical threats to her safety. It is in the final act of the film that Soderbergh’s confined style expands into something we have not seen from him in several years and Kimi evolves into something different.
Steven Soderbergh makes great use of the remote cast as well as the few who physically interact with Kravitz, including Devin Ratray as a neighbor and Jaime Camil as someone trying to find the recordings Angela possesses. But, Kimi hinges on Kravitz’s performance. Luckily, she is up for the task and delivers a sympathetic and realistic performance that requires her to play quiet in equal measure with confident and headstrong. Kravitz has proven herself a very talented actress capable of everything from action to comedy as well as drama and Kimi draws on all of those to tell this story.
What didn’t quite work for me was the ending, something Steven Soderbergh has been notorious for struggling with over his career. Kimi doesn’t fail but the final act does end up feeling a bit like an R-rated Home Alone and the inclusion of Devin Ratray playing a character named Kevin was not lost on me. At a brisk ninety minutes, Kimi doesn’t overstay its welcome but it also introduces a lot of plot elements that don’t necessarily go anywhere. The movie is the most cinematic that Soderbergh has made in a while with the camera work feeling steadier while also experimenting with some visual tricks throughout. Cliff Martinez’s score is another solid outing for the composer and David Koepp’s script is his strongest since Panic Room.
Kimi is a quick and effective thriller that presents a lot of big ideas but doesn’t quite pull them all together. The concept of our technology spying on us is a chilling thought and it comes back full force in the final scenes of this movie but it could have been utilized more than it was. Kimi has things to say about the state of the world in the midst of the pandemic but quickly shoves them aside to turn into a conventional narrative. Steven Soderbergh does make some inspired visual choices and Zoe Kravitz is excellent but Kimi ends up a little short of what it could have been. Regardless, this movie presents an engaging conspiracy that will have you wondering how much your smart devices are like the one in this tale.