“Love Me,” directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero, is a disturbing film about artificial intelligence developing human emotions. In this film, a “smart” buoy, voiced by Kristen Stewart, meets a satellite, voiced by Steven Yeun, in an apocalyptic world. The buoy only has access to the internet, where she learns about human life. The buoy then attempts to replicate life and lure the satellite into a virtual world to learn what it means to be human and fall in love.
While the cinematography is beautiful, the narrative is unsettling and difficult to follow. In their world, Me and Iam, are the names given to the buoy and satellite characters. The love trope between them never grows naturally, instead it is forced; Me’s toxic behavior forces her perfect dream life onto Iam’s. Her goal to become a perfect YouTube couple leads to repetitive scenes acting out a skit that goes on for too long. This takes away from the film’s depth and the viewing experience.
As the story progresses, the film misses an opportunity to tell a deeper narrative of its characters and their doomed world. “Love Me” is a surface-level film that wants to delve into a complex world but falls short, leaving some concepts unexplored. The writers could have explained what happened to Earth that led to human extinction and only these two robots behind, or they could have dived more into a life they could have created sooner. The jarring animation style is the equivalent of two emojis acting on screen; it gives a feeling of incompleteness. While the decision to have the characters remain AI as they progress into “our world” supports the theme of the film, had they been human, the emotional impact may have been stronger, but moments meant to be serious were hard not to laugh at.
“Love Me” is an interesting concept but fails to connect in its most powerful moments. There is potential in the idea of exploring AI’s understanding of human life, but the end result did not live up to the possibilities.
This feature-length film could have been executed better as a short film and could have made better use of its stars: Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun. “Love Me” did not go into enough detail, leaving the plot underdeveloped, and the chemistry of the two characters felt forced.
The film introduces a unique world, but does not dig in enough to where it could have truly stood out. Despite this, “Love Me” still holds a space for those interested in a take on technology and human connection. “Love Me” for purchase on streaming platforms
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