Film Review

The Pod Generation (2023) — twee sci-fi satire wastes Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor

In a not-so-distant future, a tech giant offers couples the opportunity to share their pregnancies via detachable artificial wombs or pods…

Rachel (Emilia Clarke) and Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor) wake up in a sleekly minimalist late-21st-century apartment. This New York couple’s world is similar enough to our own, only with technological advancements such as lasers making toast and an all-seeing, all-knowing A.I assistant that prepares their meals, chooses their clothing, monitors their “bliss index”, and reminds Rachel to get some outside time

Rachel works at a company which creates and markets such A.I assistants, whereas her partner Alvy is a self-employed botanist and technophobe. They’re polar opposites in all aspects of their lives, as Rachel’s upwardly mobile at a forward-thinking tech company, while Alvy is content to potter around a greenhouse in old sweaters.

The future society they live in has a pervasive distrust of nature. Alvy’s…