351. After Yang; movie review

 

AFTER YANG

Cert PG

96 mins

BBFC advice: Contains mild bad language, threat

Will artificial intelligence closely replicate humanity in the near future as many seem to be forecasting?

Well, I write this as someone who drives a car which can accelerate and brake for me and sticks to the lanes on a motorway and dual carriageway.

So, if vehicles are on the cusp of being autonomous, is it such a big leap to suggest androids could be part of the family?

Such is the case for Jake (Colin Farrell), his wife Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith) and their adopted daughter, Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) in Kogonada's After Yang.

The parents run an organic tea shop which is an oasis of calm and Mika is looked after by a very realistic android, Yang (Justin H. Min) who is treated as an older brother.

Suddenly, his computer system crashes and, while attempting to have him repaired, Jake discovers, in Yang's memory banks, that he has been leading a secret life.

There are some deep philosophical questions asked during Kogonada's movie.

These range from the very basic "can a robot really be treated like a human" right up to the meaning of family and life.

The problem for many viewers will be that it is just too slow and that its lead characters are just a bit wet.

The latter is especially evident when it comes to Jake and Kyra's parenting of a daughter who perpetually gets her own way.

While it does have echoes of Ex Machina, After Yang, remains different from any other movie in 2022 and it does make the audience think.

Is it a challenger for honours in award season, as has been suggested by Variety's predictions list? I would not have thought so.

Reasons to watch: Deep look into the human psyche

Reasons to avoid: Will be too slow for many

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? According to Forbes, a 2016 survey of 352 experts from various positions in the field tried to determine when robots would be able to perform any task better than a human. The average answer fell within 50 years, regarding everything from mathematics to surgery to writing novels.

The final word. Justin H. Min: "For me, one of the most [striking] things is that it’s one of the first narratives I’d come across where the AI is perfectly content being an AI, as opposed to being on this quest to become human." AnOther

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