This is an intriguing companion piece to I’m Not a Robot, which recently won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
![]() |
Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) get a warm greeting, upon arriving at the setting for their weekend getaway. Alas, a promised "happy outing" soon takes a sinister turn... |
Iris (Sophie Thatcher) is introduced while shopping for groceries. Her movements are oddly precise, almost dreamlike ... and, indeed — as we learn momentarily — she’s recalling how she “met cute” with boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid). They’re actually en route to a weekend getaway at an attractive home miles off the beaten track.
(A bit more opulent than the horror-clichéd “cabin in the woods,” but the essential remoteness is no different.)
Longtime friends Eli (Harvey Guillén), Patrick (Lukas Gage) and Kat (Megan Suri) already are present, as is their host: the grizzled Sergey (Rupert Friend), much older than the others, who looks — and sounds — like a Russian mobster.
(One wonders how our youthful quintet ever met Sergey, let alone wangled such an invitation ... and Kat’s “explanation” is an eyebrow lift. But we gotta roll with it.)
As this first day passes, Iris’ submissive behavior around Josh becomes more obvious, in a Stepford Wives sort of way. She’s beyond submissive; it’s more a case of genuinely worshipping the ground on which he walks. When she describes what it’s like to have made Josh part of her life, she says, “It’s like this piece of you that you didn’t know was broken, and suddenly it’s fixed.”
Thatcher’s performance is unsettling and disturbing; is Iris a battered girlfriend?
Um ... no.
Iris actually is an “emotional support robot.” (This isn’t a spoiler, because the poster art and trailer reveal as much.) Her “love link” has been “established” with Josh, and thus she’s his — well — permanent, no-request-is-too-much girlfriend.
These artificial companions can be custom-modified in all sorts of ways — eye and hair color, vocal pitch, intelligence level, and more — via a tablet that Josh never lets out of his sight. Watching several of those options explored in rapid succession, at one point, is a clever bit of special effects.
Tellingly, such companions cannot lie.
Although this story’s isolated setting obviously factors into what follows, it’s also a clever way to save Hancock and production designer Scott Kuzio from having to show more of the obviously futuristic society in which such technology is possible. The only other suggestion is Josh’s fancy self-driving car, complete with personality (voiced by Ashley Lambert).
Eli and Patrick also are a couple: the former a cheerful, good-natured jokester; the latter a strikingly handsome master chef. Kat, on the other hand, is surly and unpleasant. Hancock establishes an atmosphere of building tension, as everybody eats dinner, then drinks too much, and dances awkwardly to overly loud music. The mood should be larkish ... but it isn’t.
Something — aside from Iris — is Not Quite Right.
The merde hits the fan the following morning, with an initial shock followed by several others, as a clandestine plan spins wholly out of control.
At which point, Hancock plays his cheekiest card, because our empathy is with the artificial Iris, rather than any of her human companions. She’s the victim here, and Thatcher makes her a vulnerable, sensitive heroine worth rooting for. (She also must have tough skin, given how much time she spends running around the woods in bare feet.)
Quaid deftly handles Josh’s shift from doting boyfriend to something much worse, and the transformation is chilling; his earlier playful smile becomes sinister.
Unfortunately, Hancock settles for suspenseful thrills, chases, setbacks and skirmishes, at the expense of further exploring the awful implications of such technology. How would such companions be treated by the sort of sadists who pull wings off flies, and drown kittens?
One sidebar character fleetingly references such behavior, but Hancock could have focused more on that aspect ... which would have improved his film’s increasingly silly, Perils of Pauline-style third act.
On top of which, a crucial climactic jolt — which proves very helpful — is much too conveniently unlikely.
Hancock started with a clever premise; it’s a shame he didn’t handle it better.
No comments:
Post a Comment