It's in Max and it lasts 90 minutes: Steven Soderbergh signs a paranoid thriller with a hint of Hitchcock

Steven Soderbergh has a rather curious unofficial record. With Contagion, a film from 2011, he was a visionary portraying the covid pandemic that arrived nine years later, and with Kimi, his 2022 movie, he portrayed like no one else the anxiety of confinement and left the best fiction of everything that was produced and released at that time.

In this corporate thriller, Kimi is a smart speaker that uses human monitoring to improve the device's search algorithm. Angela Childs (Zoë Kravitz)) is an employee of the technology company who works from home monitoring the incoming data flows from the Kimi devices and making corrections to the software.

Angela suffers from anxiety and agoraphobia that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. One day, while working, she hears a Kimi recording that seems to capture a violent sexual assault.

With the help of a coworker, Angela accesses the account holder's information, a woman named Samantha, while other recordings allow her to identify the perpetrator of the assault. When Angela reports the incident to her superior, she is referred to a company executive who convinces her to go to the office in person where they will meet with the FBI.

That's where Angela's odyssey begins, as she begins to uncover a conspiracy designed to make those recordings disappear, and a nightmare that forces her to step out of her comfort zone if she wants to stay alive.

A spectacular cocktail

Described by its director as a cross between Panic Room (David Fincher, 2002), The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974), and Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954), this psychological technothriller written by veteran David Koepp (Carlito's Way, Mission: Impossible, Panic Room) during the pandemic appeals in many ways to our contemporary fears.

As a director, the superb Soderbergh entrusts the weight of his movie to Zoë Kravitz, to lead us through a mystery story about hyper-surveillance and the ethical dilemmas of new technologies.

The cast includes Zoë Kravitz (Big Little Lies), Jaime Camil (Schmigadoon), Erika Christensen (Traffic), Derek DelGaudio, Robin Givens (Riverdale), Charles Halford (Logan Lucky), Devin Retray (Side Effects), Jacob Vargas (The 33), with Rita Wilson (Mamma Mia!).

Behind the scenes of 'KIMI'. HBO Max

Critical Reception

"An opportune and minimalist gem from the COVID era" for The Guardian, and Paste Magazine highlighted the realistic and non-cliché portrayal of characters on the autism spectrum: "In this paranoid modern-day thriller, Soderbergh and Koepp have also crafted a film with a sharp eye on rectifying long-damaging cinematic tropes around the representation of autistic characters."

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair emphasized the sense of humor in portraying "the modern technological landscape, as well as the neglect both by the State and companies towards women victims of sexual assaults."