Joaquin Phoenix is a deft hand at doing damaged and
delusional, and is therefore perfect casting as the lonely geek who falls in
love with the artificial intelligence in his computer. This may have a modish sci-fi twist, but Phoenix's persona is not far removed from his socially dysfunctional soul in 2008's Two Brothers, and the comparison is beneficial. The film also manages to
show a shroud of uncertainty over whether the object of his infatuation is
truly self-aware, and so this is never allowed to turn either into Pacino doing
barmy in S1mOne, the teary sogginess of Bicentennial Man or the more formulaic
thriller set-up of the murderous household AI of Demon Seed. It does sag towards the end
under the weight of the futility of the protagonist's passion, and his detachment from human contact also infects the viewer with detachment from his situation, but nevertheless some
interesting ideas on the future of social interaction have been thrown up by then.
6/10
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