Kimi: Steven Soderbergh and Zoe Kravitz’s slick, paranoid thriller

If you ever needed proof that movies don’t need to drag out for forever, this paranoid thriller is it.

2 min read

February 11, 2022 - 8:11PM

Steven Soderbergh’s Kimi isn’t just a taut, compelling thriller, it’s a reminder that the prolific American director really can do so much with not a lot.

Soderbergh has always been a nimble filmmaker, deftly helming big budget star vehicles such as Ocean’s 11, pulsating ensemble dramas such as Traffic or intimate, dialogue-driven films such as High Flying Bird and Let Them All Talk.

Kimi lies somewhere closer to the latter in that it’s a character-centric story anchored on Zoe Kravitz’s agoraphobic tech worker but one which throbs with the intensity of a paranoid thriller.

With more than a touch of Hitchcockian suspense – especially in Peter Andrews’ cinematography and Cliff Martinez’s score – Kimi races along at a clip. Even the apartment-bound scenes are infused with a claustrophobia that gives it momentum.

Angela (Kravitz) works for the company behind an Alexa-esque home AI called Kimi. Kimi responds to your every request, but it also records everything it hears. Angela is one of the company’s reviewers who problem-solves issues like playing the wrong Taylor Swift song.

Zoe Kravitz in Kimi. Picture: WB/Foxtel

During one of these passes, Angela hears something that sounds like it could be a violent crime against a frightened-sounding young woman.

But the only way to get her bosses to take her seriously is to leave her apartment, not an easy ask of an agoraphobic.

Kimi may have a simple premise – and one that’s been plumbed in the past – but at its core it’s about a person who bears witness to something and must either overcome their own demons or be thrust into something not of their own making.

It’s why it feels like there’s such a strong Hitchcock connection, from the voyeurism of Rear Window to the tense chases of North by Northwest, or even 1990s thrillers such as The Pelican Brief and Enemy of the State.

But Soderbergh has injected a freshness into the formula. Not the tech part, although that element comes with its own warnings about how entrenched the ubiquitous AI home assistants have become and what they really mean for our lives.

What makes Kimi distinct and worthy is Soderbergh’s approach, a certain disciplined Spartan-ness in his vision which means the focus is always where it should be without unnecessary distractions.

Kimi is streaming now on Foxtel On Demand. Picture: WB/Foxtel

That also translates to a running time of a contained 89 minutes. Remember movies that didn’t drag out forever? Not this awards season where everything else edges to a leisurely two hours and 40 minutes.

While Kimi has thriller tropes such as conspiracies, hit-men and hackers staring at computer screens, they’re all ancillary to its focal point – this character who starts off unable to turn the key to her front door.

Kravitz’s performance is compassionate and determined, and it’s a whole-body performance in which the physicality tells half the story, especially in her frenzied, uneasy movements once she manages to cross the threshold.