Zoë Kravitz is good at making us watch someone think, without supplying a helpful expression for every thought. We rate her most when the writing gives that restraint something to do, as Kimi does.
Fi1m perspective
At her desk in Kimi (2022), Zoë Kravitz sits with headphones on and works through a recording, returning to the sound she cannot place. She barely reacts, and we keep watching for a change in her face. We felt quietly sick as the voice became clear, because she kept listening when we wanted her to stop. Steven Soderbergh gives her time, and she makes the repeated listening tense without announcing how we should feel. It is the clearest reason to rate her as a leading actor.
Her early franchise work, including Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), seldom put her at the centre. In Big Little Lies (2017), Bonnie's readiness to forgive is enough to irritate Reese Witherspoon's Madeline. Kravitz need not compete with the louder performance to make the scene work. Starring in and producing High Fidelity (2020) marked a move towards leading roles, with Selina Kyle in The Batman (2022) following.
The difficulty is how often the parts leave her little to do. In Caught Stealing (2025), she has too little to do as Yvonne, although her scenes with Austin Butler are loose and warm. We believe these two enjoy each other's company, which gives the chase a reason to matter. Soderbergh and writer David Koepp give her more precise work in Kimi: the checking, the wiping, the attempt to cross a threshold. Opposite Byron Bowers, she makes the failed walk across the street register without turning it into a display.
Her first film as director, Blink Twice (2024), suggests she also knows how to keep an audience watching people who give little away. Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra's hard sunlight and production designer Roberto Bonelli's matching guest rooms make the island hospitality feel uncomfortable. Editor Kathryn J. Schubert cuts the days into repeated swims, drinks and dinners until we lose count, while composer Chanda Dancy's low score unsettles the daylight. Kravitz directs the cast well and finds the comedy in rich men speaking like their therapists. For the first hour, the control is persuasive.
The script, written with E.T. Feigenbaum, is less assured, explaining what the film has already made clear and borrowing too heavily from Get Out (2017). That is a substantial caveat to a promising directing debut. Start with Kimi, allowing for the familiar chase that follows its patient first half.
Biography
Zoë Kravitz is an American actress, singer and filmmaker. She is the daughter of musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet.
She is known for playing Toast the Knowing in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Christina in the Divergent series (2014–2016) and Leta Lestrange in the Fantastic Beasts films (2016–2018). She portrayed Selina Kyle in The Batman (2022) and voiced Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Kravitz made her directorial debut with Blink Twice (2024), which she also wrote and produced. She has appeared in the television series Big Little Lies (2017–2019) and High Fidelity (2020).
