You observed that explorations of the “humanity” of AIs has been done many times and asked what makes this film different.
I just tripped over this review, which begins with precisely the same question and provides a pretty good answer:
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2022/01/2022-sundance-film-festival-review-after-yang/
In his first two films, Kogonada has emerged as a director with a very distinctive, perhaps unique, voice. It will not be to everyone’s taste, but obviously a lot of folks find it interesting. Columbus elicited much film theory-type discussion about Kogonada’s use of mirrors, windows and reflections. He’s doing the same thing in After Yang. A fritzed out AI and the exploration of its memory bank is the narrative thread around which the film is organized, but Yang is not really the subject of the film. Yang is essentially a mirror. The film is about the family to which Yang had belonged. And Ada, the most enigmatic figure in the film, who is the gateway to much more. It’s done mostly with hints and open questions for the viewers to consider.
The question of whether Yang ever wanted to be human is asked directly. Of the characters we meet in the film, Ada probably knew Yang best, and her answer was no. But it gets a lot more complicated than that. Kogonada never lectures or forces a conclusion. He is content to whisper the question.
Sounds good, i love inventive camera work, and angles, as long as they aren’t too,outrageous and distracting. Another good technique that lends interest is reflections In puddles for say assault,scenes, or say a robbery sequence, with ripples disturb8ng the scene at just the right moment. Hitchcock was good at telling a story without actually seeing the violence outright- he used shadows very well to depict such scenes. I prefer that to,the outright Gore and graphic “shock value” scenes used in a lot of films