Replies

“Plot synopsis (without spoilers)?”

I guess I left out some obvious framing points. Jake and Kyra, a middle aged married couple, have a daughter (Mika) adopted from China. (Young Malea Emma should be in the running for the best child actor awards.) As is common in their sometime-in-the-indeterminate-future world, they purchase a “techno,” the shorthand term for “technosapien,” as an AI babysitter/teacher/companion/guardian for their daughter. Since their daughter was from China, they get a “cultural techno” with Asian features and a lot of lore about China as a way to help connect Mika with her cultural heritage. (This is important to some adopted kids and not to others; my own girls were too busy playing soccer, hanging out at the pool with their friends, and being normal American kids to think too much about being Chinese. Kids differ on this.) Anyhow, Yang ends up functioning as Mika’s big brother.

Mika is very young and she unquestionably accepts Yang as her brother. She is extremely upset when he fritzes out. Jake and Kyra regard Yang as a gloried appliance, though we see glimpses in memories of Jake taking more of a tentative interest.

Jake and Kyra set out to get Yang fixed. Things do not go as planned. The pacing is superb; Kogonada changes the mood repeatedly, and some scenes are downright funny. You will see a QuickFix counter guy who will remind you of everything you hate about big tech customer support. There’s a gray market, semi-underground repair guy — you glimpse him in the trailer — who has everything but a MAGA hat; he is a conspiracy theorist who is convinced the bots are loaded with spyware. He’s funny but he’s a good guy who refuses payment because he can’t do the fix. There’s a museum curator who understands that Yang is a unique specimen and who badly wants Yang and his memories for her museum. There is a wonderful all-American neighbor whose ... well, no spoilers, but he’s great.

It’s worth buying a ticket and going to the theater just for the opening credits. Never has the main cast been better introduced. If there were an Oscar for opening credits, it would have to be retired after this year.

There’s plenty to see here if you are ok with quiet, meditative films. Just don’t go in expecting an action film with rogue androids. As with Columbus, there are no villains. You will be rooting for everyone in this movie.