Format: Streaming video from Amazon Prime on massive television.
I can’t say that Black Mirror has ruined science fiction, but it has certainly changed the perception of it a great deal. Modern science fiction that touches on themes of the dangers of technology and near-future cyberpunk feels like a Black Mirror episode. That’s definitely the case with Companion. This is a near-future story that is absolutely about AI and promised technology and exactly how it can go wrong.
This is also a case where some of the major plot points are clearly revealed in the trailer. Josh (Jack Quaid) and his girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) go for a weekend get-together with friends. Included are couple Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage), Josh’s friend Kat (Megan Suri), and Kat’s boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend). It’s clear that Kat is not a fan of Iris, and also that Sergey is someone who doesn’t treat her very well. Sergey hints that he has connections to some dark and unsavory people; the amount of money he clearly has backs this up.
The first night passes well enough, but Josh wakes up hung over and Iris wants to go down to the lake. She does, and is joined by Sergey, who tries to sexually assault her. And just like that, Iris sticks a knife in Sergey’s neck and shows back up to the house covered in his blood. And this is when what is revealed in the trailer is revealed to us in the movie: Iris is a companion robot.
Here's the thing, and here’s what makes Companion difficult for me to talk about: I genuinely can’t go any further without spoiling the plot of the film, and this is not a film to have spoiled for you. Companion takes a hard shift a few minutes after the revelation that Iris is a companion robot, and that revelation is something that should genuinely be experienced. What that means for me is that either I have to put the rest of this review under a spoiler tag or I have to find something else to talk about.
This is a story that is very well-told. It’s smart, and importantly, it doesn’t talk down to the audience. This doesn’t mean that the plot is difficult (it’s not), but that you do actually have to pay some attention to it, because it goes in a lot of different directions. It also really helps that this is a film where the characters aren’t stupid. They make some stupid mistakes, but they are completely understandable mistakes, the kind that someone would legitimately make in the situations they are in. Nothing really feels plot-driven, but character-driven, which is always the better choice.
The film also does a very nice job of making Iris likeable and sympathetic. We’re supposed to like Iris, and we do. In a lot of ways, Iris is the most clearly human character in the film. For this reason, Companion calls to mind a film like Ex Machina, but it just as easily brings up a film like Alita: Battle Angel. There are some real similarities between Iris and both Alita and Ava. And especially when it comes to Alita, we like them for essentially the same reasons, much of which is their clear humanity.
This is well-cast and well-acted. I haven’t entirely made up my mind on Jack Quaid (he’s hard to like in later seasons of The Boys, but that’s the character and not him), but more roles like this one will help solidify him as getting roles not from nepotism. It’s Sophie Thatcher who sells the film, and she’s the one who should get most of the praise.
The highest praise I can give Companion is that it feels like it was written by a woman. Women are writing more interesting horror these days, and a lot of what happens in Companion really feels like it is coming from a woman’s perspective. Iris is a fully-realized character, and also a character who, in her world, has essentially been created to be exploited. In that respect, it would be easy to make her a parody, or also to make her some sort of self-righteous icon of fighting against oppression. She is neither—she feels real and her actions and reactions don’t feel forced.
My biggest complaint is what I mentioned at the top—cut this down by half an hour or so (or not), and this could be a Black Mirror episode. The longest Black Mirror is about 90 minutes, if memory serves. Companion isn’t much longer, and it fits the style and subject matter perfectly.
Why to watch Companion: You think you know where this is going and you’re wrong.
Why not to watch: It genuinely feels like a long episode of Black Mirror.
I actually had Bladerunner in mind when I watched this and even Promising Young Woman.
ReplyDeleteI like what you say about this being character driven rather than plot driven because this is exactly what this feels like. The movie goes where it goes, not because the plot dictates that but because this is what these characters would do.