Saw a bit of AI last night. You know the film Stanley Kubrick was making when he died. I love that film - well the first hour, especially. Hayley Joel Osment as the dead-eyed robot boy David is really sinister. He plays it very well. Whatever happened to him? When he's abandoned by Monica in the jungly woods its heartbreaking. He does have feelings! But he's a robot, how can it be!?, etc., etc.
I like the style of the film and its glimpse into the future. But how far ahead is it meant to be? Surely about 50 or 60 year's time, as New York is underwater, the countryside is like rainforest and the flat the family live in is very futuristic (though Americans are still boiling kettles on the stove, which to me is an affectation. Haven't they invented something quicker yet?), not to mention the fact that robots walk among us, then get rounded up and demolished for our entertainment.
It all falls apart when he takes up with Jude Law, who though good, kind of ruins the film and it loses its sinister edge and becomes run of the mill sci-fi bollocks. I wonder what it would have been like if Kubrick had lived to complete it?
The best thing about it of course is Teddy, the supertoy who can think and speak. If they ever invent such a thing, I'm first in the queue.
Talking of films, we saw The Wrestler on DVD. It's marvellous. Mickey Rourke is so utterly convincing as a washed up WWF star that you forget it's him you're watching. It's so bleak. I loved it. We also saw Milk which is not so marvellous.
Welcome to the working week.
5 comments:
A toy that can think and speak? Wooah, no way am I having one of those in my house (once they've been invented, of course.). It's just asking for trouble.
According to IMDB, Haley Joel Osment is now 21 and at university (doing drama), so he may yet make a comeback. Although by the looks of his recent photos, he's now got a baby face stuck on a grown-up body, which is not a great look. Poor lad.
While we're talking robots, the original Stepford Wives was on Five (I think) the other week. It remains very stylish and creepy, yet you have to force yourself not to think about the plot too hard because it makes no sense. Why, if you were building a dreamwife robot, would you make it look just like your human wife in a bizarre frilly gown, rather than the bikini-clad supermodel of your choice? And how did all those men get over the inherent creepiness factor of shagging a robot? And what's Nanette Newman been up to lately?
Well, if my wife was Katherine Ross, I'd not baulk at the robot thing Kitten.
Didn't you think the end of AI dragged on interminably? I saw it at the cinema and I was ready to leave about half an hour before it finally ground to a halt. Now, when I think of the film, all I can think of is long, lingering shots of HJO and his teddy frozen in their flying car at the bottom of the sea, staring at that bloody statue.
Yes, TT, as I say, it's good for about the first hour, then it drops off completely.
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