The conflict between robots and human emotions isn’t new in fiction; decades of various art forms have touched on whether robots could ever have the capacity to understand free thought and emotions, with the capacity of love being a huge aspect. While sometimes the concept can grow long in the tooth in feature-length films, short films tend to be the perfect medium for the topic. Those who are familiar with my alter ego’s film writing know exactly how much I love the short film form. So much more attention is given to every scene where each detail builds towards the importance of the short.
ABE, directed by Rob McLellan, combines two topics very near and dear to my heart: robots and short films. While it made the rounds at the beginning of the month, I watched the short and let it marinate in my mind for the past couple of weeks. The short is about a robot, the titular ABE (Sam Hoare) waxing poetic about his past to a female captive (Claire Huskisson). The film matchs its amazing blend of CG animation and live-action acting with a psychological thriller tone that examines ABE’s existential crisis.
You can read more about ABE at the film’s official website.