Soderbergh Channels His Hitchcock in KIMI

 

An updated homage of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Kimi is a solid thriller from director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) featuring Zoë Kravitz (The Batman) in a strong, lead performance.

Set in Seattle, Angela (Kravitz) lives alone in a high rise apartment and observes her neighbors on the other side of the street in an almost voyeuristic manner.  She works as a techie who reviews voice streams from the Kimi service (think Alexa), when she thinks she hears a horrible crime and wants to report it. That’s when things take a decided turn for the worse.  Can Angela survive the growing threat?  

Early on, we get bits and pieces of her background and learn she has emotional scars from her past.  This experience forms the basis whereby subsequent events test her ability to overcome her fears and face her trauma.  In fact, Angela proves to be resourceful utilizing her tech savvy and improvising on the spot. And just when things look hopeless, help comes from the unlikeliest of sources.

The film has good moments of mystery and tension with not only the primary influence of ‘Hitch’, but elements in varying degrees from Blow Up and Blow Out.  As is common in these films, there are an assortment of characters who are mysterious and even creepy, and things aren’t as they seem. If these elements had been further developed, it could have resulted in a more enriched narrative.

This is a relatively lean, modestly budgeted film with fluid camerawork and good pacing which serves the story well, and at a brisk 89 minutes, it’s almost too short but fun while it lasts.  It’s an effective exercise in the suspense genre, but could have been a bit more.

*** of  **** stars (add ½* for Kravitz fans)               on HBO Max