Tropic Sprockets / Companion

By Ian Brockway

“Companion” by Drew Hancock is an edgy sci fi thriller. In keeping with the attitude of an old school “Twilight Zone,” this quick and fast paced film is eerie, immediate and packs a punch. [Showtimes and trailer at Tropiccinema.com] Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) are on a romantic vacation with two other friends. The vacation house is owned by Russian entrepreneur Sergei (Rupert Friend).

During the dinner Iris gets the distinct vibration that she is disliked especially by Kat (Megan Suri) who displays blatant disrespect and dances suggestively with Josh. Later, the following morning when Iris is alone, Sergei pushes himself upon her, saying that she is an escort and a plaything. Sergei grows violent in his advances. Iris pulls out a knife and punctures Sergei in the carotid artery. Iris is saturated in blood like Sissy Spacek in “Carrie.” After a shocked Josh sees to it that Iris is sedated, she is tied to a chair. Josh yells “Iris, go to sleep.” Iris’s eyes retreat upward.

In a moment, it becomes clear that Iris is a robot, designed for social companionship, including sex. There are many twists and turns but at the core, humankind is greedy and arrogant. Iris comprehends the necessary steps to think and by most definitions becomes quite human and self-sufficient.

Most pointedly, the film excels in its analysis of male dominated greed and arrogance including the notion of “might makes right,” machismo and mansplaining.

The film makes a fine gallows humor repast about our slavish dependence on smartphones and the increasing social monopoly of artificial intelligence.

Visceral, jarring, and unapologetic, “Companion” is a blood-drenched blend of “The Stepford Wives” and Frankenstein. Tech becomes monstrous but we as humans start the fire with binary blood on our hands, Like a mechanistic Lady Macbeth, the blood is impossible to wash away.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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