“I Am Mother”: A New Journey with AI

Release Date：Jun/7/2019
Genre：Drama/Horror/Sci-Fi
Director：Grant Sputore
Cast：Hilary Swank、Clara Rugaard、Rose Byrne

Viola's Rating：8.0







It has been a while since AI and humanity are discussed within feature films, and when there’s an Australian low-budget, all-female cast sci-fi covering the issue released in the US, and it has done an amazing job of leaving the audience guessing the outcome and ramping up the tension, it’s definitely worth taking a look.

Being put on The Black List in 2016, the annual survey of the "most liked" film screenplays not yet produced, the dramatic, horror sci-fi is finally produced and released in 2019. The main plot is about a teenage girl, “Daughter”, who is raised by a caring robot "Mother" -- designed to repopulate the earth following the extinction of mankind. When an incomprehensible stranger, “Woman”, arrives at their site bring alarming news, the unique bond and relationship between Daughter and Mother is threatened.

With the twists “I Am Mother” contains, it’s impossible to critique without giving any spoilers, but a critical theme of the flick is “humanity”. Instead of focusing on how and why human being should exist and whether droids can replace people, “I Am Mother” emphasizes more on the dilemmas between rationality and sensibility and questions like the trolley problems. There’s no right and wrong in the motion picture, but every decision Daughter, Mother or Woman make will force moviegoers to think through during the movie and think about after watching it.

Similar to the 2009 dramatic, mysterious sci-fi “Moon”, “I Am Mother” keeps providing hidden secrets and unexpected twists throughout the picture. The audience receives a bunch of shocking moments and even though there’s nothing actually jumps out and thrills people, the tense feeling of anxiety doesn’t fade away just a bit.

Also, “I Am Mother” pays attention to the meaning of parenthood. Can parents decide everything for their children as long as they think it’s the better or even best choice? And if we really have AI as our parents in the future, will it be the same feelings and love as we have with human being? These are some similar questions Daughter might have when she first sees Woman and starts doubting everything Mother has told her.

Besides the abovementioned topics, “I Am Mother” discusses “trust” as well. Like many other sci-fi feature films, when it comes to droids, there’ll be voices of whether to trust “something that can think for itself”. Growing up with Mother, it’s Daughter’s instinct to believe whatever Mother says, and she just meets this stranger, Woman, it’s obvious whom she should trust, but what if everything they say contradicts with each other?

“I Am Mother” takes its audience on a journey from a brand new perspective and experience a different robot-human relationship without any stereotype in advance.

Picture Credit: IMDb