It's not a teen movie
For a thoughtful, adroitly-written and directed movie, supported by persuasive performances from the entire cast, AFRAID doesn't half get a bad press here. I suspect the reason for the obvious critical split, balanced 75/25 to thumbs-down, is age-related. Although I'm sure the picture's trailer emphasises the youth aspect, this movie's principal point of view is the parents'.
Most teens will think they know all about this stuff: AI deep-fake social-media manipulation etc. Adults (especially parents) will identify not just with the dilemmas of the well-played family in the movie, but after their curious infatuation with AI, will also identify with their growing sense that AI represents a developing but unstoppable problem for families and for society more generally.
Fact is, most teens know about (the existence of) AI. They know especially its enhancement powers, which can transform essays with a limited frame of reference into a wide-ranging and potentially persuasive thesis. However - like almost everyone in society (including tech-kings) - don't know where it's going to lead, at all.
So this is a 'moral panic' movie; and an unusually intelligent one. Its first acts is off-angle and disconcerting; the second act is creepy and doom-laden. If the film almost jumps the tracks at the start of act three, jolting into teen-shocker territory in a strangely unresolved way, it does pull itself back for an ending of quiet power that will remain with most viewers after they leave the theater. Because the movie's punchline is that it's already too late to stop any of this stuff. (Many comments suggesting that the conclusion is a crude set-up for a sequel are way off the mark.)
Yes AFRAID is about AI; it is also a metaphor for unstoppable turbo-capitalism, that puts it in the same bag as ROBOCOP (the original) and alongside Blumhouse's previous political pictures GET OUT and THE HUNT. Those last two pictures are about race and class. AFRAID underlines how the family unit, even though forged by love and care, is leveraged to keep workers (including managers) contributing to, and developing an economic system that exploits them.
And like GET OUT and THE HUNT before it, AFRAID explores politics in a highly engaging and entertaining way. Keep going, Blumhouse!
Most teens will think they know all about this stuff: AI deep-fake social-media manipulation etc. Adults (especially parents) will identify not just with the dilemmas of the well-played family in the movie, but after their curious infatuation with AI, will also identify with their growing sense that AI represents a developing but unstoppable problem for families and for society more generally.
Fact is, most teens know about (the existence of) AI. They know especially its enhancement powers, which can transform essays with a limited frame of reference into a wide-ranging and potentially persuasive thesis. However - like almost everyone in society (including tech-kings) - don't know where it's going to lead, at all.
So this is a 'moral panic' movie; and an unusually intelligent one. Its first acts is off-angle and disconcerting; the second act is creepy and doom-laden. If the film almost jumps the tracks at the start of act three, jolting into teen-shocker territory in a strangely unresolved way, it does pull itself back for an ending of quiet power that will remain with most viewers after they leave the theater. Because the movie's punchline is that it's already too late to stop any of this stuff. (Many comments suggesting that the conclusion is a crude set-up for a sequel are way off the mark.)
Yes AFRAID is about AI; it is also a metaphor for unstoppable turbo-capitalism, that puts it in the same bag as ROBOCOP (the original) and alongside Blumhouse's previous political pictures GET OUT and THE HUNT. Those last two pictures are about race and class. AFRAID underlines how the family unit, even though forged by love and care, is leveraged to keep workers (including managers) contributing to, and developing an economic system that exploits them.
And like GET OUT and THE HUNT before it, AFRAID explores politics in a highly engaging and entertaining way. Keep going, Blumhouse!
- ChuckTurner
- Sep 18, 2024