Kimi

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Kimi follows an anxious, agoraphobic tech worker (Zoë Kravitz’s Angela) as she becomes convinced that she has evidence of a crime. Filmmaker Soderbergh, working from David Koepp’s screenplay, delivers a mostly satisfying endeavor that grows more and more involving (and exciting) as it unfolds, as the movie, which runs an appreciatively brisk 89 minutes, admittedly does boast a rocky opening stretch that’s perhaps not quite as engrossing as Soderbergh has surely intended – with the movie’s periodically arms-length feel perpetuated by Soderbergh’s reliance on low-grade digital cameras (ie it’s hard not to envision how much better the picture would play had it been shot on film or at least digital-designed-to-look-like-film). Such concerns are rendered moot by a midsection that’s been suffused with exciting, energizing sequences and set-pieces, with Angela’s fraught efforts at leaving her apartment certainly an obvious highlight, and it’s clear, too, that the unexpectedly gripping (and violent) climax ensures that the whole thing concludes on a decidedly memorable note – with the end result a stirring conspiracy thriller that exploits its COVID-era atmosphere to largely compelling effect.

*** out of ****