Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Writer: Hirokazu Koreeda
Stars: Haruka Ayase, Daigo Yamamoto, Rimu Kuwaki
Synopsis: Set in the near future, Otone Komoto works as an architect. She is married to Kensuke Komoto, who runs a construction company. The married couple decide to welcome a humanoid robot into their home as their son.
One of the most impactful events a person can go through is grief. The gravity of grief is immeasurable and the weight obviously varies but one thing people have a hard time doing is coping or living with the grief they feel. Now more than ever, people are relying on technology and AI to navigate difficult events. It is an incredibly concerning time to not find humanistic means to evaluate human problems, and I’m sure AI is better than coping with alcohol or chemical means in some regards, but how does the idea of something replace the ‘something’? Sheep in the Box – the new film from legendary Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda – is tackling grief and the intersection of coping and artificial intelligence. And while there is a lot to be said about the usage of technology with grief, Koreeda seems to say nothing substantial in this film.
Sheep in the Box follows a grieving couple, whose son died from a tragic train-related accident, who signs up for a program to recreate their late son through AI and into a humanoid form. The film then follows the couple as they evaluate their morals as their humanoid replicant of their dead son adjusts into their lives. The husband, Kensuke (Daigo Yamamoto) is reluctant to accept his robotic son while referring to him as a human Tomogatchi and a Roomba. Meanwhile the wife, Otone (Haruka Ayase) is so desperate to see her son again that she accepts him with no hesitation. The humanoid recreation of Kensuke and Otone’s late son, Kakeru (Rimu Kuwaki) starts as a mirror of the words and actions of his parents but eventually finds his own way.
In theory, the premise is thought provoking and timely, but the film comes to a screeching halt because of the son. When the film is focused on the moralistic depth of the main couple it is soaring and thematically driving. But once the humanoid son develops any form of agency it starts to unravel. The storylines of the couple navigating their grief and the humanoid son discovering himself are at odds with each other for the duration of the runtime. The problem is how much the themes and ideas diverge from each other and not naturally coalesce into the grander point of the film. To add, the final product seems to not say anything about grief and the integration of AI but rather a point about how those we lose are always with us (which is just a separate point on the coordinates of this film’s ideas). Eventually, the son’s story trumps that of the grieving couple and causes the narrative to clunkily land at nothing.
While you shouldn’t always expect a grand statement from a filmmaker, it is disheartening to see a filmmaker do absolutely nothing with a pertinent subject. In the opening parts of the film it really aimed at that intersection of “desperation of relief vs painfully stewing in reality” but lost itself as the film progressed. The film has some beautiful views but in the face of what’s happening in the film it is pretty empty. Hell, the couple’s dynamic is interesting to watch unfold as they’re at odds morally, but it loses focus as the film goes on. If the entire film was about the couple trying to navigate their loss, it would be a much better film.
It feels silly to go on a tangent about “AI bad!”, “we need more humans doing human things”, or what have you, but Sheep in the Box says absolutely nothing on the topic. What is largely gained when the credits roll? What do these characters learn? There is no bite to it nor does it grip emotionally. Even the moments where it is clearly trying to extract an emotional reaction from the viewer, there is no weight to draw from. We know nothing about the loss outside of the existence of loss. It feels vapid and toothless to draw these comparisons to the ‘sheep in the box’ line from The Little Prince which is about the use of imagination while doing nothing with said imagination in the film.
Sheep in the Box starts strong then tumbles and bumper cars unrelated ideas until the very end. It is incredibly disappointing to watch something from a filmmaker like Koreeda that feels so devoid of heart. If you want to cry, go watch Marley & Me, if you want to watch a movie on humanoid kids, go watch A.I. Artificial Intelligence. I hate the idea of films having to justify itself to exist, but films that try to be fake smart are grating and a waste of time and I hate to say this for this particular film from this particular filmmaker. This is a disappointing film and I wish I liked it more.
