Rating: C+
Dir: Rich Mallery
Star: Jose Adam Alvarez, Faith West, Kylee Michael, Anthony Rainville
I’m not 100% certain, but I don’t think there is any connection to the 2008 Japanese film, Maid-Droid. At least, not beyond the obvious fact that both of them have a female, robotic servant as a central character. I guess both, at least loosely, address the question of what it means to be “human,” though I’m not sure this ever comes to any particular conclusions. Blade Runner, it is not. This is also likely an even smaller-scale production than the Japanese film, almost entirely taking place in a single location. It’s the house of Harrison (Alvarez), who is three months removed from breaking up with his girlfriend, Julie (Michael), and is still having severe difficulty coming to terms with it.
At the urging of a friend, he contracts with a rather mysterious corporation for service by a robot maid (West), whom he names Mako. She doesn’t just clean his kitchen, if you know what I mean, and I think you do, though their growing relationship is more than just physical. However, there are a couple of issues. Firstly, not all of Mako’s previous owners were as considerate as Harrison, their treatment leaving her with the android equivalent of PTSD. Secondly, Julie wants to get back together with Harrison, and he is more than slightly interested in the idea. Mako, however, is not impressed to discover that she is about to be sent back to the manufacturers, in favour of a flesh and blood alternative.
This isn’t as tacky as I feared it might be. While there’s no shortage of nudity from the lead actresses – and they are both certainly easy on the eye – it’s mostly done with a sweet innocence. Indeed, perhaps a little too much innocence: there’s a very significant age gap between Alvarez and West, and on occasion this does swerve into the slightly creepy. Perhaps as much an influence is Audition, which also has someone who looks as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, yet who has a darkness lurking inside, just waiting to come out. The longer this goes on, the more apparent it becomes that this is not going to end well for anyone. Don’t put your dick in robotic crazy, is the moral here.
While the grade is likely better than I expected, it definitely feels like the film was too constrained by the resource limitations, and was unable to explore its own world adequately. Mako is indistinguishable from a real woman in appearance. Hell, would some silver contact lenses have been too much to get? Similarly, there’s no real logic to her ignorance about some aspects of humanity, considering she clearly comes with Internet access, ordering food and artwork for Harrison. I liked the idea, and I liked the performances too. It just didn’t feel like the script was able to do either justice. It feels more like an early pass, in need of additional development. The movie asks some interesting questions. It just isn’t very good at offering up answers to them.