I'm Your Man (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
Based on a short story, actress-turned-filmmaker Maria Schrader directs 'I'm Your Man', an elegant, thought-provoking German romantic dramedy with a sci-fi spin. In the near future, Alma (Maren Eggert) is shown to be a no-nonsense archaeologist working in a Berlin museum. Recently single {following a tragedy}, taciturn Alma devotes most of her time to her work. But to please her boss & hopefully unleash some funding for her research, she agrees to participate in an unusual project in which she will spend 3 weeks with a kind, handsome man and, submit a report on her experiences thereafter. The odd dimension to this project is that Tom (Dan Stevens) is a humanoid robot who has been programmed to be everything Alma desires in a partner.
Their meet-cute in a nightclub goes humorously awry when, while dancing to the rhumba, his circuits start glitching & he must be carried away for repairs. After being fixed, he moves in with her. While suave, blue-eyed Tom tries to win Alma over (tidies up her apartment, arranges her books, preparing a rose petal bath), she is not all that convinced by this process. He knows tons of facts; like quoting-with-exactitude her favorite poet. But though he gets so many things 'right', he comes up a bit short on the emotional front. Over time, however, the initially cold Alma begins to let down her guard & enjoy Tom's sweetness, charms, & intellect.
But a series of events occur {some including her ex-boyfriend, some involving her dementia-ridden father} which snap her out of the euphoria of her temporary romance and, she then berates herself for forgetting that Tom is simply a machine. As the oft-funny, but also fascinating dramatic study of humanity nears its end, philosophical questions abound: While with Tom, Alma is not lonely ... but can she be truly happy with a machine? If she can, is anything wrong with that? If you can interact perfectly with a 'perfect' partner ... would interaction with human beings become stilted and, eventually, moot? And in this age of artificial intelligence seeping into society more & more ... can a robot's algorithms match the complexity of a human heart?
This film's high concepts are left unanswered & the final scene's outcome is left ambiguous -- but I kinda dig that. Maren Eggert is fantastic as damaged Alma; a lovely, but heartbroken, skeptical woman who is wary of human connection and so, dives into work to cope. Dan Stevens {his German sounds great, to me}, leans into his role as cool, but ingratiating Tom. Yes, we see the glint of robotics in his icy blue eyes, but so too does he make us think there is a red beating heart inside. 'I'm Your Man' raises tantalizing questions about loneliness and a world in which technology might know us better than our human relationships ever will. It also asks: 'do we really want our fantasies to come true'? I loved this film & how it snuck up on me.
Their meet-cute in a nightclub goes humorously awry when, while dancing to the rhumba, his circuits start glitching & he must be carried away for repairs. After being fixed, he moves in with her. While suave, blue-eyed Tom tries to win Alma over (tidies up her apartment, arranges her books, preparing a rose petal bath), she is not all that convinced by this process. He knows tons of facts; like quoting-with-exactitude her favorite poet. But though he gets so many things 'right', he comes up a bit short on the emotional front. Over time, however, the initially cold Alma begins to let down her guard & enjoy Tom's sweetness, charms, & intellect.
But a series of events occur {some including her ex-boyfriend, some involving her dementia-ridden father} which snap her out of the euphoria of her temporary romance and, she then berates herself for forgetting that Tom is simply a machine. As the oft-funny, but also fascinating dramatic study of humanity nears its end, philosophical questions abound: While with Tom, Alma is not lonely ... but can she be truly happy with a machine? If she can, is anything wrong with that? If you can interact perfectly with a 'perfect' partner ... would interaction with human beings become stilted and, eventually, moot? And in this age of artificial intelligence seeping into society more & more ... can a robot's algorithms match the complexity of a human heart?
This film's high concepts are left unanswered & the final scene's outcome is left ambiguous -- but I kinda dig that. Maren Eggert is fantastic as damaged Alma; a lovely, but heartbroken, skeptical woman who is wary of human connection and so, dives into work to cope. Dan Stevens {his German sounds great, to me}, leans into his role as cool, but ingratiating Tom. Yes, we see the glint of robotics in his icy blue eyes, but so too does he make us think there is a red beating heart inside. 'I'm Your Man' raises tantalizing questions about loneliness and a world in which technology might know us better than our human relationships ever will. It also asks: 'do we really want our fantasies to come true'? I loved this film & how it snuck up on me.