Robots May Take Our Jobs, But They’ll Never Be Able to Raise Our Kids
I Am Mother film review
Raising a teenager must be hard. So hard, not even robots can do it!
That’s the premise of I Am Mother, the new sci-fi thriller on Netflix. It imagines a world where humans have been wiped out of existence and the only hope left for the survival of the species rests in the cold, lead hands of a robot.
“Mother,” as the robot is referred to in the film, does everything a human mother can do. She cooks, she cleans, she even passive-aggressively tells you off for not putting your clothes in the laundry!
Being a “Mother” is child’s play for this artificial Mary Poppins, but no amount of hardware or cutting edge technology can prepare it for adolescents.
Once her child grows up to become a rebellious teen, all hell breaks loose. “Daughter” starts disobeying “Mother” every chance she gets, even letting a stranger, played by Hillary Swank, come into their home from the outside.
Australian actress, Rose Byrne lends her voice to play “Mother.” Her voice is perfect. It can be warm and judging at the same time, just like a real mother!
Clara Rugaard plays “Daughter” and holds her own against the seasoned actress, Swank. She almost looks like a younger version of the Million Dollar Baby actress and I can see them playing mother and daughter in a future film.
But the real star of this film is the robot. Weta’s done an amazing job bringing this robot to artificial life. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look of how it was done. Hint: it’s not CGI…
Wow, kinda puts Daft Punk’s robot costumes to shame. Speaking of… the music in this film is also very good like it was designed by a computer or a vacuum cleaner.
The film really makes you think. In many ways, we treat our home assistant smart devices like we treat our parents. “Hey, Google! What time is it? Read me a story! ARGH… why don’t you listen?”
By the end of the film, I felt sorry for the robot. Raising a teen is a thankless job. She does have one slight advantage though… unlike a real mother, this robot gets to recharge every night.
Somewhere in this film, is a very human story about motherhood and learning to cut the apron strings, or is it wires?
Anyway, I highly recommend it.
4.5 out of 5 short circuits
Thanks for reading. For another film review…
