Oh, what to say about this film. It’s right on the skirting edge of what I’d consider in any way weird enough to suit my Oddscope Substack, but from a purely sci-fi angle. It’s uncanny: let’s go with that.
Andy and I have been on a horror-film rut lately, just not liking what we’ve been picking, so this Friday, we decided to go utterly outside horror and watch a sci-fi. The Artifice Girl was a film Andy’d found the trailer for and it looked vaguely interesting, and it was small (we’re fans of non-Hollywood/sleeper films). So, out of sheer desperation, and in the hopes of small = better story (as it often, but not always, does), we gave it a try.
We loved it. You guys: I can’t speak as an AI-specialist or anything, so take this from the layman that I am, but this movie gave me the thinks and the feels. The dialogue started off a bit bumpy, but we got into it quickly, and once the main story kicked off, it really dragged us in. The actors all did a fantastic job (given especially their limited cast and settings), and I especially loved the time-jumps throughout to illustrate how time impacts their situations.
I personally am a fan of films with no definitive “villain,” and while this one has multiple “villains” in the form of the pedophiles being hunted, they are absolutely in the background for the entirety of the film. Really, this movie is deeply philosophical. Over and over, Andy and I paused the film to reflect on some little line or thought that had been brought up, brains of fire with the implications of what had just been communicated. It doesn’t fall into the trap of rehashing old ethical questions, but takes a whole new angle on questions that we probably should be asking, but may not be. Yet as complex as it is, it feels deeply approachable. At one point, we had to look up who wrote the script, because it felt like a Ted Chiang story translated into film à la Arrival (it isn’t: it’s by Franklin Ritch).
Chewy and thoughtful, this film left us with so many thoughts about the future of AI avatars and the process of their evolution. Be aware, this film does deal with child abuse and sexual predators, though this is mostly explored through one of the characters’ backstory and oblique memories, not in any visual detail. You never see a child abused, and the abuse the character suffered in childhood is kept relatively vague. The film is truly more about the AI and protecting kids, not just from predators but also from generational/inherited trauma.
9/10 – A delightful film that made us think about AI avatars in completely new ways, not seen before. Philosophical sci-fi.