Saw Blade Runner 2049, a scifi film in the Blade Runner series. That series is famous for playing with notions of identity and free will. The conceit is that human-realistic robots exist and can be programmed to be unaware that they are robots and to have false memories. This quickly leads the protagonists into low-level existential dread. How can they be sure that they're human? If they're a robot, how can they be sure of who they are?
This film kicked it up a notch, visuals-wise and plot-wise, introducing a Her-style home AI who is in love with the main character, a main character who knows he's a robot, and glorious, sumptuous visuals of people walking among statues of giant hands and feet, and sitting in islands inside a wooden cave. It's very modern, very stylish.
I liked The film. It had emotional heft and endless philosophy to discuss. I watched some youtube video breaking down the character's relationship to his home AI. Questions of free will combined with romance raise serious questions about consent (albeit, scifi/fantasy questions of consent which we can happily ignore for now.) But this angle didn't even occur to me. I was too caught up in the identity and free will puzzles, to say nothing of the spectacular visuals and plotting, to consider the house AI subplot - that's how just full of stuff this movie is. There's so much of it!
Truth be told though, I have little patience for such philosophical puzzles personally. They're fun to visit but I always get disappointed when these topics come up in casual conversations. Usually one person just starts lecturing and everyone else feels vaguely bored or confused. All well and good to wonder if I have free will, but I still have to decide what to have for dinner tonight, you know? Fortunately for this movie at least, there's also nice visuals, drama, and even a mystery to keep folks like me interested and some philosophical icing on the cake for those who want it!
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