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Life Like (2019)
Intriguing, Flawed ...and Worth Seeing for Strait
When we first meet James and Sophie in the new film "Life Like" they are standing on a street corner, about to carry a discarded chair up to their apartment. Sophie is all about giving this piece of furniture a second life.
Later that evening, the couple gets their own second life: James' wealthy father has passed away. The news prompts the couple to move into the mansion in which James spent his childhood, and James steps into his father's sizeable shoes at the office.
The new life is a tough fit for Sophie as well. She feels guilty about having servants, and ends up dismissing them - although, in Sophie's mind, it is more like setting them free. When James learns of this, he explains that a home their size does not just run on its own (has she not seen Downton Abbey?). Like it or not, they need help.
James' colleague from work lets James in on a little secret. Before his death, James' father had been approached by a man looking for investors in his company which manufactures artificial intelligence robots. (The script never bothers to give this company a name such as "Evil Inc." or "Sexy Robot Company.") James and Sophie head over to this unnamed company to check out the latest models (and all the models do indeed look like models). Sophie doesn't want another female under her roof, because, she admits, she wants to be the prettiest girl in the room (a comment that is absolutely in line with her character).
This prompts them to choose Henry, played by Steven Strait ("The Covenant," "The Expanse"). Strait's Henry walks the halls of the couple's mansion like a modern Hal-9000 computer, but one designed by Apple: he's sleek, sexy and eager to please. What's not to like? Well, just like the Hal-9000, there is something unsettling about him, perhaps even menacing. How close to human is James? He cooks meals, plays racquetball, and analyzes "Great Expectations." He reasons, learns and applies that knowledge. But what about emotions? Does he feel intimacy, Sophie asks. "Would you like me to feel it?" James replies. She does, so he does. Is he ever afraid? He experiences something close to fear, he admits. One of his greatest concerns is that is owners will see him as obsolete and replace him. Anyone out there afraid their spouse or partner might leave them? Anybody feel as though their "intimate" relationship doesn't feel all that intimate?
I thought so.
The more intriguing relationship is the one that develops between James and Henry. When Henry walks in on James naked after a shower, James instinctively reaches for a towel. "Aren't you uncomfortable?" James asks Henry. "Do you want me to be?" Henry replies. The something shifts. Unlike Sophie, James is less troubled by any questions of the line between human being and sexy robot. To James, Henry is the same as his electric razor- he is a tool (actually, James is the real tool, but I digress). This idea gets upended a bit later, in what is the film's best scene, and one that may launch more than a few online Henry and James romantic pairing "ships," if this film ever finds a wider audience.
The film has some problems. The film's low budget occasionally gets in the way (the movie feels strangely underpopulated). It's unclear what sort of business James' father was in, or what kind of man he was. Does Sophie work? Neither James nor Sophie thinks to google information about Julian, the man who runs the robot program. Watching James and Sophie sorting out the mystery of these lifelike robots might have given the story a nice bit of suspense. The film does not quite build to its ending. There is also a weak link or two in the acting department.
But the film is worth a look for Strait's performance, and some of the interesting questions that it raises.
We the Animals (2018)
We Animals: Beautiful and Disturbing
We meet the "Animals" early on -- three Puerto Rican brothers living with their parents in upstate New York in the 1980s. Manny, Joel and Jonah feel almost as though they are one being, with shared skin and six arms and legs. The film focuses on nine-year-old Jonah, played by Evan Rosado (all three of the boys offer up terrific performances). We also meet their parents: Paps (played by Raul Castillo), who dances while he cooks, and Ma (Sheila Vand). These early family scenes unfold with all the magic of a contemporary fairy tale. The movie itself could have opened with the words "Once Upon A Time."
But as is often the case in fairy tales, things aren't quite what they seem to be, and danger is often lurking right around the corner. A trip to the lake turns into a traumatizing swimming lesson for Jonah. Parents who seem to love each other one day can suddenly seem to stop doing so.
And when things go bad, look out. Paps and Ma have it out one night, and Paps says his goodbyes to his three boys. Their mother takes to bed for days, leaving the brothers to search the house and neighborhood for food.
As the boys gobble down stolen candy and leftover soy sauce packets, the phone keeps ringing. The boys wonder if it might be their missing father, but they decide against answering it. It's here where one may question the film's narrative. How much time is passing? Are these kids in school? Do they have friends? Does the mother? Is there extended family nearby? The film doesn't answer any of these questions.
Ma recovers, Paps returns, and things get back to what passes for normal for this young family. The boys have front row seats to their parents unpredictable marriage, of course, and the film stays with Jonah as he draws in his notebook and tries to make sense of all this (the drawings come to life in some nice animation by Mark Samsonovich). There is chaos here, but there is also love, and the film raises an interesting question about good enough parenting. How good do parents have to be to make sure their child is going to be okay?
In perhaps the film's best scene, we see the boys and the parents sharing a bathroom. The boys finish washing their feet and then slip behind the shower curtain. This is clearly part of an often-played game; the boys vanish, and the parents call out to them, search the bathroom, and then find them. But that is not what happens on this occasion. The parents -- who clearly have a strong sexual draw to each other -- get caught up in an erotic moment with each other. Ma and Paps realize too late that they have missed their entrance, so to speak, and blown the game. They try and save the moment, and some easy family roughhousing suddenly turns violent. "You were supposed to find us," one of the boys yells and slaps his father hard on the back, and then the other boys each take their turns. "Why didn't you find us?" The slaps get harder, and the words more insistent.
These kids are angry about a lot more than a missed moment of play, of course. There are all sorts of spoken and unspoken agreements between a parent and a child: I will feed you; I will clothe you; I will protect you. Your needs will come before my own. What is really fascinating in this scene, however, is that both parents accept the blows. They know they screwed up; they know they must take their punishment. How many children raised by alcoholic, unpredictable parents never feel safe enough to take up their parents' failings with them?
There is something else Jonah is trying to figure out: sex. While the brothers are out searching for food, they meet a kindly farmer and his son, who invites the boys into his room and later shows them a pornographic video. Jonah keeps returning to this house to see this boy. It's clear Jonah is drawn to this boy, that we know a name for these feelings even if he does not.
Dealing with preteen sexuality is always dicey, and I give the film points for going there. The book on which this movie is based takes place over a handful of years, and this gives Jonah's exploration of his sexuality more of a chance to breathe. The movie takes place over a period of months. What we get is really Jonah's first step on a journey. But that is okay. When the kiss comes, it is brief and tastefully handled, and has all the sweetness that a first kiss should.
Late in the film, after a series of disappointments, Paps moans to Ma that they will never escape this world, this cycle of just getting by in life. He gestures to the boys. "They will never escape it either."
The film's lovely final scene suggest that Jonah will.