Autonomous is a science-fiction short which asks questions concerning humanity, our future and the nature of our identity as both a species and as individuals. This Swedish film takes quite a complex viewpoint. It works as a documentary, but is presented from the viewpoint of a dystopian future.
This lends the narrative an objective framing, but it is permeated by subjective and emotional perceptions. It succeeds, as all good science fiction pieces should, in pondering and questioning the conclusions of present scientific developments and their repercussions for mankind.
For those unfamiliar with the robot, Autonomous brings also introduces us to the robots creator, Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro who announces ‘all human ability can be replaced with machine.’ Ishiguro is an inventor who creates ‘Actroids.’ These are interactive robots, specifically female, which are built with a strong visible human likeness. These eerie looking androids are created to respond to human interaction, and mimic the facial expressions of human behaviour, hence the twitches. There is a scene where we watch the robot through a security camera, as if we have a chance to view it while it thinks it’s unobserved, and its twitches and spasms are suggestive more of a possessed demon from some exorcism movie than a real human. If you couldn’t tell, I’m disgruntled by this robot.
But that’s the point of the film. Because as we stare at the actroid, the narrative poses suggestive thinking points. Of our identity, of our place on the planet or of our inherent feeling of uniqueness. As Ishiguro states, this robot is evidence that we are replaceable. The films dystopian ‘Virtual World’ suggests we have already been replaced.
Yet the final question that Autonomous ponders, is what if we are already robots? As we see a Tokyo salary man dribbling his schedule away - coming to work, doing as the boss says, going home, sleeping and starting again the next day - we can't help but wonder In contrast to these strong and developing robots, we are shown a salary man. Not a soldier or a pair of lovers, but a white-collared drone. The complacency of the humans presented seems to suggest that we and the robots have already swapped places, and that the battle was lost before it even started.
The only criticisms of this film is that it does not hold a very strong narrative frame. There is a lot of confusion between taking an objective documentary stance, and applying subjective opinions in to this. Much like the robot is too strangely human to be attractive, the narrative is too pseudo-documentary to be fully compelling. Equally, as to be expected with a film about technology, the actual technology feels outdated. There are many new prototypes of the Actroids currently on show. Asimo was released in 2000, and though it was revolutionary, there are more advanced robotics which are better examples of innovation. It does not even touch on cyber-tech. In the end, the presentation of a ‘dystopian future’ is just not believable because it is actually already outdated.
However, Autonomous does a great job of getting the neurons firing. It poses questions that are very prominent in today’s society. Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate, and we have found ourselves in one of the most introspective and self-reflective societies to date. Facebook and social media means that now more than ever we can really take a look at ourselves and quantify our behaviour. But there must still be some deep insecurities hidden beneath our consciousness, about the security of our identity and of our uniqueness, because this movie really hit a nerve for me.
Asia House Film Festival kicks off this weekend and you can buy tickets here.