A Brand New Zoe Kravitz Film Is A Streaming Smash
Zoe Kravitz has a brand new movie released directly to streaming. So far, audiences are loving it, and it's in the top 10 charts
This article is more than 2 years old
A new film starring Zoe Kravitz is quickly rising on the HBO Max streaming charts thanks to its exclusive release on the Warner Bros. owned platform. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, KIMI has clearly tapped into the agoraphobia and public tension that many have felt in recent years. The movie stars Zoe Kravitz as a young Seattle-based tech worker named Angela Childs. She works for a massive company called Amygdala, run by eccentric billionaire Bradley Hastings. The company is most known for its Alexa-like smart home device called KIMI. Like the Alexa, it utilizes human monitoring technology. It’s Angela’s job to listen to that data land correct any misinterpretations of human behavior and adjust the software accordingly. In short, she’s the one who listens to what your Alexa (uh, KIMI, rather) overhears.
Zoe Kravitz’s character is very of our time. She’s an assault survivor who has developed agoraphobia, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. So, her work-from-home job is perfect for her until the day she overhears a violent sexual assault on someone’s KIMI device. She then finds herself hot on the trailer of a massive murder conspiracy with her billionaire boss at the center of it. The film is a dramatic thriller that plays with the concept of isolation in a world that’s interconnected. How does one do the right thing and hide from someone who literally has eyes and ears everywhere?
In addition to having a cleverly cast and compelling female lead in Zoe Kravitz and telling a story driven by the experiences of modern women, reviews for the 20222 streaming film also highlight how well Steven Soderbergh captures the fear and tension of the renewed isolation the entire world has felt since early 2020. Unlike many movies, KIMI isn’t afraid to not only directly address the COVID-19 pandemic but use it to make its larger point about the claustrophobia that’s becoming normalized as technology stops asking permission to invade our privacy.
In fact, speaking in an interview with various reporters to promote her new film, Zoe Kravitz discussed how she’s been personally grappling with the concept. She notes that she’s “the person” that covers her laptop camera for fear that someone more tech-savvy than her will be peeping through it. Unlike her character in KIMI, she doesn’t own an Alexa or allow her phone to utilize Siri for fear that someone is listening in. Like many of us, she’s been freaked out too many times to be discussing a topic in real life only to miraculously see an ad for it moments later on her phone.
Because human monitoring technology has become so ubiquitous in modern society, she likens her new movie to Jaws in that it took something seemingly wholesome that people loved and suddenly made them aware of the very real dangers that lurk just under the surface. Like a shark making its way to your favorite summer vacation spot, Zoe Kravitz notes that human monitoring is being given a green light by too many people. The tech is allowed to get dangerously close to us and we won’t know that its plans are nefarious until it’s already got a hold of our leg and is dragging us under.
Zoe Kravitz is clearly not alone in considering the dangers and side effects of being constantly monitored and having no place on Earth to truly avoid the ever-watchful eye of people like her character or the overwhelming power it gives people like her character’s boss. The movie is currently in the top 10 for streaming on the HBO Max platform and is getting rave reviews. While audiences are split, critics are giving it an 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, numbers that are likely to change as the streaming movie’s life continues — after all, it just came out Feb. 10.
In the meantime, those looking to truly freak themselves out while they wait for the next big thing in horror can turn to Zoe Kravitz’s latest starring role and see if their threshold for having an Alexa in their house or Siri on their phone diminishes in any way after watching KIMI on streaming. Zoe Kravitz’s next big hit will be as Catwoman in The Batman, releasing in movie theaters on March 4, 2022.
