The HBO Max thriller “Kimi” released on Feb. 10 and is the true definition of Big Brother surveillance and technology. The movie’s director Steven Soderbergh takes inspiration from the famous Alfred Hitchcock film “Rear Window” and adds a dramatic twist. The story follows a young woman by the name of Angela Childs, who works as a tech specialist for the company Amygdala, which ends up drawing lots of similarities to Amazon. Their most widely used product is the KIMI, a virtual assistant with voice response and 24/7 recording. Angela has a debilitating fear of new places, big crowds and going outside, so to keep herself occupied she shifts through hours of data recordings from KIMI. What seemed like a normal and mundane work shift quickly turns sinister, as Angela hears something she shouldn’t have. She is the sole witness and must now get to the bottom of the case before it’s too late.
Zoë Kravitz stars in the 90-minute thriller and impressed me by showcasing her growth as an actress. Upon first glance, it may seem that the movie’s premise is too intense for Kravitz, whose acting career so far has been riddled with small roles. But surprisingly, she shined throughout and despite her being in every single scene of this film, I never got bored. “KIMI” was a slow burn to the finish and was wonderfully well-paced. Is it a mystery, a science fiction or even an action film? If you watch, you probably won’t be certain until the very end and when is it over, you’ll realize that it was all of those in one.
“KIMI” is on the edge of your seat, anxiety-inducing entertainment. It means something when you’re scared of the events that happen in a fictional movie. You can turn it off and forget about it. But it means even more when you’re terrified of something you can personally relate to. Watching “KIMI” felt like I was watching an untold prophecy and honestly it made me want to throw all my electronic devices out the window. Are we being watched, recorded, spied on? Soderbergh dangles that question in viewers’ faces, but we never get an answer.
“KIMI” is a layered and intricate film with a deeper meaning than first meets the eye. The film is simple, but impactful. I’ve never seen anything quite like this, it’s quiet horror, no blood just computers.
Photo Credit: IMDb
