My Thoughts on A.I.
I know, I'm a little behind the times, but this is what Netfllix does. I feel like there are no new movies out on the sites, like Amazon Instant Prime, Netflix, or ... whatever. So, I find myself scouring through old listings to find something that I want to watch and that would hold up to the years gone by.
A.I. did.
I must also disclaim that I had a huge crush on Jude Law until his multiple infidelities against Sienna Miller. He just seemed like a slime after that.
It made him less gorgeous to me. It is hard to dispute that back in the day Jude Law was dreamy. The way he sort of has a lisp? Or how he draws out his S's or whatever. Super sexy. Plus, all of his features put together are phenomenal. But I digress.
He is extremely talented. One only has to watch Road to Perdition to see what an amazing actor he is. Or Cold Mountain. I'd like to see him do something good more recently. I did like him in Anna Karenina.
Back to A.I. ...
The movie is about a robot boy named David who is the first robot of his kind - made to love and be loved by an adult. The setting is a time when adults are limited in the amount of children they can have due to overpopulation as a result of limited resources from climate change.
There is a very specific warning that once you decide to have the robot imprint its love on you, there is no going back. If you decide you don't want the robot anymore or you die, the robot must die because it is that good at what it does and to whom it connects to.
Needless to say, David imprints on his mother, who is given this first robot because her own son is in cryo from some disease and she is devastated.
Her son wakes up, David is no longer needed, misunderstood, and thus to be discarded.
However, David's mom can quite seem to drive David to his ultimate destruction and leaves him at the side of the road to fend for himself.
Lots of stuff happens, but as this is not a recap blog, but a thoughts blog, I will just get right to the point.
The movie is basically two primal concepts.
Both are extremely well done, minus being poorly tied together.
First. David is in utter despair over what he can do to make his mother love him.
Yes, he is programmed to try and decipher what it is his person he imprints on needs or wants in order to receive and to give love. The movie shines here if you break it down to our own human connections. Yes, the machine is a robot. This is what it is made for. But, as children, is this not too what we long for? Where so many of us, parents and children, falter?
As children, our fears, regrets, and later in life, our hangups are based on this issue. If perhaps I was smarter, or prettier -- if maybe I liked football and not ballet -- my father would love me.
If I was quieter, or got better grades, maybe my parents would notice me.
In David's case, he figures if he was real, like his mother's real son, she would love him.
This moves the plot forward -- much like this emotions and subconscious drives move us forward into adulthood and how we see, live, and further this world.
I think this concept can be appreciated by all.
The second primal concept of the movie is at the end of it all, when you lose someone, or gain their love (however you want to view it), what do you want to do with this person? What is it you need from them?
This, to me, the movie nailed perfectly, despite how randomly it got there.
David is told he can only spend one day with his mother. He can choose it now, or save it, because there really is only this one day.
First off, he of course chooses it. We all would. If you have ever lost someone, it would be immediate, no waiting. You would jump at the chance to do it as soon as possible. It is telling about having lost someone. It is an immediate, all consuming need to have them back. David doesn't hesitate when given the option of now or later, he even states, there is no choice.
The other thing is, when you get that person, there is debate over how you would spend that day with that person you love. What we all find, when we have lost someone, is not that you want to do some grandiose thing with them. You don't need to go to Paris, or go to some fancy restaurant. What you miss about them, is the everyday. The walking the dog together. The having breakfast together. Listening to them slurp their coffee one more time.
I have lost my dad. When I would call him every Sunday while I walked my dogs, he would always answer the phone "Hey-hey, Tyrone!".
First off, my name is not Tyrone. I am not a man. I do not know where he got this from -- at all. No clue. But he called me that every time I called.
Every time he did that I felt his immense love for me.
That is what I would want. One more really, super-happy dad, saying that into the earpiece, because he was so excited to hear from his daughter. As if it was the greatest thing that would happen to him all day. I used to be able to see in my mind's eye, his face crinkling in delight, his eyes sparkling -- a full ear to ear grin.
I would want him to make me those terrible eggs-in-a-hole toast thing he would make. I would now eat one so happy, thanking him repeatedly for the effort, despite the fact I hate runny eggs and the way it smelled in the toast as it was frying.
I would want to play a game of t-ball. Yes, I'm in my 30's. I don't give a shit. That is what I want.
I want to watch him yell at my dog to get out of the kitchen, telling me he hates dogs -- then when he thinks no one is looking, shoving his hand into a hidden box of dogs treats he has stashed away in a cupboard he thinks I don't know about and watch him lovingly give my dog a treat.
Then I want to sit in our backyard and watch him grill hamburgers and hotdogs. Nothing fancy. I want mustard, ketchup and onions. I want to watch the sun set, feel the hot humid Michigan air cool off, and go to bed knowing he was falling asleep on the couch.
That would be my perfect one last day.
This is what the movie gets so beautifully right. We watch David and his mother's whole day together. Some who have not lost a parent may feel like the scene lasts too long. Those of us who have, watch every moment, our hearts ache, our chest is tight -- our breathing is shallow. We know. We yearn for it, too. We understand. That day ... is the most perfect day.
The movie might not be perfect, but it perfectly gets it.
The desperation to be loved by a parent, always.
I know, I'm a little behind the times, but this is what Netfllix does. I feel like there are no new movies out on the sites, like Amazon Instant Prime, Netflix, or ... whatever. So, I find myself scouring through old listings to find something that I want to watch and that would hold up to the years gone by.
A.I. did.
I must also disclaim that I had a huge crush on Jude Law until his multiple infidelities against Sienna Miller. He just seemed like a slime after that.
It made him less gorgeous to me. It is hard to dispute that back in the day Jude Law was dreamy. The way he sort of has a lisp? Or how he draws out his S's or whatever. Super sexy. Plus, all of his features put together are phenomenal. But I digress.
He is extremely talented. One only has to watch Road to Perdition to see what an amazing actor he is. Or Cold Mountain. I'd like to see him do something good more recently. I did like him in Anna Karenina.
Back to A.I. ...
The movie is about a robot boy named David who is the first robot of his kind - made to love and be loved by an adult. The setting is a time when adults are limited in the amount of children they can have due to overpopulation as a result of limited resources from climate change.
There is a very specific warning that once you decide to have the robot imprint its love on you, there is no going back. If you decide you don't want the robot anymore or you die, the robot must die because it is that good at what it does and to whom it connects to.
Needless to say, David imprints on his mother, who is given this first robot because her own son is in cryo from some disease and she is devastated.
Her son wakes up, David is no longer needed, misunderstood, and thus to be discarded.
However, David's mom can quite seem to drive David to his ultimate destruction and leaves him at the side of the road to fend for himself.
Lots of stuff happens, but as this is not a recap blog, but a thoughts blog, I will just get right to the point.
The movie is basically two primal concepts.
Both are extremely well done, minus being poorly tied together.
First. David is in utter despair over what he can do to make his mother love him.
Yes, he is programmed to try and decipher what it is his person he imprints on needs or wants in order to receive and to give love. The movie shines here if you break it down to our own human connections. Yes, the machine is a robot. This is what it is made for. But, as children, is this not too what we long for? Where so many of us, parents and children, falter?
As children, our fears, regrets, and later in life, our hangups are based on this issue. If perhaps I was smarter, or prettier -- if maybe I liked football and not ballet -- my father would love me.
If I was quieter, or got better grades, maybe my parents would notice me.
In David's case, he figures if he was real, like his mother's real son, she would love him.
This moves the plot forward -- much like this emotions and subconscious drives move us forward into adulthood and how we see, live, and further this world.
I think this concept can be appreciated by all.
The second primal concept of the movie is at the end of it all, when you lose someone, or gain their love (however you want to view it), what do you want to do with this person? What is it you need from them?
This, to me, the movie nailed perfectly, despite how randomly it got there.
David is told he can only spend one day with his mother. He can choose it now, or save it, because there really is only this one day.
First off, he of course chooses it. We all would. If you have ever lost someone, it would be immediate, no waiting. You would jump at the chance to do it as soon as possible. It is telling about having lost someone. It is an immediate, all consuming need to have them back. David doesn't hesitate when given the option of now or later, he even states, there is no choice.
The other thing is, when you get that person, there is debate over how you would spend that day with that person you love. What we all find, when we have lost someone, is not that you want to do some grandiose thing with them. You don't need to go to Paris, or go to some fancy restaurant. What you miss about them, is the everyday. The walking the dog together. The having breakfast together. Listening to them slurp their coffee one more time.
I have lost my dad. When I would call him every Sunday while I walked my dogs, he would always answer the phone "Hey-hey, Tyrone!".
First off, my name is not Tyrone. I am not a man. I do not know where he got this from -- at all. No clue. But he called me that every time I called.
Every time he did that I felt his immense love for me.
That is what I would want. One more really, super-happy dad, saying that into the earpiece, because he was so excited to hear from his daughter. As if it was the greatest thing that would happen to him all day. I used to be able to see in my mind's eye, his face crinkling in delight, his eyes sparkling -- a full ear to ear grin.
I would want him to make me those terrible eggs-in-a-hole toast thing he would make. I would now eat one so happy, thanking him repeatedly for the effort, despite the fact I hate runny eggs and the way it smelled in the toast as it was frying.
I would want to play a game of t-ball. Yes, I'm in my 30's. I don't give a shit. That is what I want.
I want to watch him yell at my dog to get out of the kitchen, telling me he hates dogs -- then when he thinks no one is looking, shoving his hand into a hidden box of dogs treats he has stashed away in a cupboard he thinks I don't know about and watch him lovingly give my dog a treat.
Then I want to sit in our backyard and watch him grill hamburgers and hotdogs. Nothing fancy. I want mustard, ketchup and onions. I want to watch the sun set, feel the hot humid Michigan air cool off, and go to bed knowing he was falling asleep on the couch.
That would be my perfect one last day.
This is what the movie gets so beautifully right. We watch David and his mother's whole day together. Some who have not lost a parent may feel like the scene lasts too long. Those of us who have, watch every moment, our hearts ache, our chest is tight -- our breathing is shallow. We know. We yearn for it, too. We understand. That day ... is the most perfect day.
The movie might not be perfect, but it perfectly gets it.
The desperation to be loved by a parent, always.