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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

FILM WITHOUT FLUFF | ‘Kimi’ Explores Fabricated Reality

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Many sci-fi thriller movies like “I, Robot” or “The Matrix” explore distant futures that are dominated by artificial intelligence, but none reflect a reality as close to ours as director Steven Soderbergh’s 2022 film “Kimi.” 

Set in a post-pandemic world, “Kimi” explores the real anxieties of today’s society and ruminates over our emerging virtual future. Alongside creative cinematography, this crime thriller offers viewers a thought-provoking experience about the AI that is quickly infiltrating our world, ironically from the comfort of their technology-filled home.

The film begins with an interview with the CEO of the fictional firm Amygdala, Bradley Hasling (Derek DelGaudio), attesting to the promising future of his company and his hot product “Kimi” (voiced by Betsy Brantley), a smart speaker à la Alexa or Siri. 

Viewers then meet the agoraphobic hypochondriac Angela Childs (Zoë Kravitz), traumatized from being assaulted in the past. She works for Amygdala as tech support for the Kimi devices, whose main selling point is that humans correct their mistakes to help them adapt accordingly. 

When Angela discovers a violent assault committed by the Amygdala CEO himself and recorded on a Kimi device, she must overcome her fear of the outside world to expose the truth.

With the film’s hero being a flash drive, in “Kimi,” technology turns the tables on classic tropes. Instead of attempting to destroy humanity, technology actually reveals man-made illusions to expose human crimes. The role of technology as the secret hero even extends to most of the shots, which are from the view of tables and shelves as if the audience was viewing the events from Kimi’s point of view, providing the film with an additional sense of originality. Even with an onset of new privacy concerns and fast-moving advances, technology’s risks may become its strengths.

Yet beyond the intellectual nature of the movie’s themes, the humans of “Kimi” are seemingly mechanical. There was little chemistry to suggest a relationship between Angela and her love interest, Terry Hughes (Byron Bowers). Even when Angela’s life was on the line, it was difficult to feel anxiety for her situation. Part of this stems from Kravitz’s much-too-subtle portrayal and the writer’s interpretation of Angela, whose agoraphobia is not seen to be a debilitating challenge but a mere character flaw. The film does little to highlight how difficult it is to live with such a condition and avoids creating any sympathy from the audience. 

The film’s real strength is its brave attempt to portray artificial intelligence as a tool to advance human life beyond convenience. Kimi’s capabilities range from playing music to ordering groceries online, but at the very crux of this film, she also serves as an objective arbiter of truth. This new perspective on the possibilities of AI suggests an alternative stance for the disenchanted public to take, that perhaps the overimposing nature of technology in our lives can be harnessed for the greater good. 

Unlike today’s narrative that places technology in an “us versus them” binary, in Soderbergh’s world, Kimi and technology in general are an embodiment of truth and a helping hand rather than a treacherous villain. Technology does not serve as an enemy or an ally, but a medium through which human intentions can be revealed. Whereas humans seek to veil their authenticity online, AI technology is an objective actor that seeks truth and justice in the film.

Though the film’s story bears little distinction from a large array of whistleblower-centered cinema creating discourse on the dangers of technology and the capitalist hierarchy, the narrative’s broader themes of justice and truth enhance the need for a film like “Kimi” as we enter a decade dominated by Meta. Even if robots do take over the world, perhaps, as “Kimi” argues, it will be a good thing. 

Elena Martinez is a first-year in the SFS. Film Without Fluff appears in print and online every other week.

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