An agoraphobic employee uncovers evidence of a crime while examining the data stream of Alexa and Siri-like software (which goes by the name Kimi). She decides to inform her employers, who have other concerns.
Posted yesterday at 9:30 a.m.
Steven Soderbergh continues his exploration of the excesses of savage capitalism and once again takes an interest in mental health issues in a thriller set in the world of new technologies. Kimifrom the name of an Alexa or Siri type software, is reminiscent by its themes of the recent Unsane and The Laundromat.
It is a minimalist project as cherished by the filmmaker of Sex, Lies, and Videotape. There is an artisanal quality to Kimi, found in his less typically Hollywood films. Soderbergh is once again his own cinematographer and editor.
Angela (very convincing Zoë Kravitz) suffers from agoraphobia and is unable to leave her apartment. His condition worsened due to the pandemic. She’s a neat and tidy freak, trapped in her loft with large windows in downtown Seattle.
She consolidates herself in teleworking, never leaves her house, invites her lover by text message – the neighbor opposite, whom she watches from her window – as one orders a pizza to be delivered. He doesn’t have time to breathe after orgasm when the bed sheets are already in the washer.
Angela is also watched by another neighbor across the street, who stalks her with his binoculars. The premise, yes, has Hitchcockian overtones a la rear window. The psychological thriller is, after all, Soderbergh’s favorite genre.
Angela works for Amygdala, the company that created Kimi and is about to go public. It monitors the data flow of the software in order to improve the algorithm. One day, she hears on a tape what she believes to be a violent crime. She notifies her superiors, who would prefer that she hush up the affair. But she does not let go, for reasons that we will eventually understand.
Effective but conventional thriller it is neither, on the same theme, The Conversation by Coppola or Blowup by Antonioni –, Kimi stands out thanks to the know-how of Soderbergh, who knows how to film the anxiety of his particular style.
The film densifies thanks to the look at the Big Brother-style surveillance company, created by the digital giants. From this point of view, this metaphor of the pandemic, immediately illustrated by a CEO in a TV interview Zoom live from his garage, pajama pants under his jacket and tie, perfect.
On Crave in original English version and French dubbed version
Thriller
Kimi
Steven Soderbergh
With Zoë Kravitz, Rita Wilson, Devin Ratray.
89 minutes