Cert: 15
★★★★✩

There were times where every new Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich Ocean’s Eleven, Contagion) production felt like a monumental event in any film enthusiast’s diary. It is therefore slightly disconcerting to find out that Kimi, the acclaimed writer director’s latest feature would be bypassing cinemas altogether in the UK in favour of a home release on Sky Movies. Still, beggars can’t exactly be choosers, and a Soderbergh film available just for home consumption is still better than no film at all.
Zoe Kravitz (Mad Max: Fury Road) — daughter of Jewish singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz and actor Lisa Bonet — plays Kimi, a gifted Seattle techie working from home during the Covid pandemic. When she uncovers evidence of a crime committed whilst monitoring the software of a young woman’s virtual assistant (think Alexa or Siri ), Kimi becomes obsessed with finding the culprit. The only problem, the young woman has been suffering from debilitating agoraphobia for some time, and is unable to leave home.
Revisiting themes he has previously dealt with in films such as Side Effects and Unsane as well as in his debut feature Sex, Lies and Videotapes, Soderbergh presents a fresh and brilliantly acted twist on the voyeuristic psychological thriller sub-genre. With frequent nods to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Kimi is populated with a fascinating array of characters, suspenseful sequences and a very satisfying denouement.
Kravitz is great as the kick-ass heroine who turns into the horror genre’s “final girl”. She delivers a believable and genuinely thrilling turn as a visibly troubled young woman struggling to be taken seriously. Elsewhere, there are also some great performances from Devin Ratray as Kimi’s nosey neighbour Kevin and Rita Wilson who plays her dismissive tech boss Natalie.
Soderbergh does a great job in laying out an intriguing story all the while broaching one of his favourite subjects, the effects of new technology on our collective psyche.
And at less than 90 minutes running time, it’s fair to say that the writer-director has managed to deliver a commendably concise and unfussy deep-dive into a question we’ve all asked at one time or another: who is really listening in, and how far can they be trusted?