I'm Here: A Robot Love Story
By Michele Lenni in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 12, 2010 7:30PM
Over the past twenty years, director Spike Jonze has stretched the reaches of our imaginations with not only his mind-bending movies like Being John Malcovich and Where the Wild Things Are, but also his visually thrilling music videos for artists like Bjork and The Beastie Boys. If Sinatra saw the world through rose-colored-glasses, then Jonze sees it through a a psychedelic kalidescope on LSD. The anticipation for each new project is great and always worth the sometimes long wait. Luckily in-between projects Jonze always finds something to occupy his time like music videos or short films for world renowned music artists like Kanye West.
Jonze's latest project is a 30-minute short film entitled, "I'm Here." With the help of his unlikely, yet generous benefactors Absolute Vodka, he has created a short, yet very charming love story between two robots in what seems like his effort to venture into a slightly more sci-fi state of mind. In his tale or romance and sorrow, these two robots meet at a party and become fast friends. Soon, we come to learn that Ms. Robot is very clumsy and loses an arm. Being the generous person that Mr. Robot is, he gives her his arm. As the story progresses Ms. Robot continues to lose body parts, which Mr. Robot is more than glad to replace.
As we continued in our journey through this sweet little film we were reminded very much of the Shel Silverstein book The Giving Tree, in which a young boy befriends a tree only to take every piece of the tree for his use, though the tree is more than willing to give to him.
Jonze never ceases to amaze us with his penchant for the odd, but in this he takes a very simplistic and traditional idea and transforms it into whimsical yet heartbreaking tale of a destructive relationship. Jonze seems to have a signature look in his films mixing equal parts of a fictitious, effects-driven world with a stark reality.
If you have 30-mins and a box of tissues, we recommend giving this a watch here.