Film has always been a fascinating medium to examine the intersection of love and technology. From more recent examples like Her and Ex Machina, to the various iterations of The Stepford Wives, and even as far back as Metropolis—there’s an intrinsic curiosity about humans and machines, and if they can ever coexist. Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man takes this central conceit to charming and unexpected places. Alma (Maren Eggert) is a career woman not looking for love—reminiscent of classic rom com tropes and characters—but she needs money to fund her research. So she participates in an experimental study where she lives with a humanoid robot (Dan Stevens) that is algorithmically trained to become the perfect partner for her. Eggert and Stevens are electric together—embodying a new take on the “odd couple” as they messily navigate their brave new world with empathy, frustration, and wit. It’s become a cliché at this point to say that a film about an android tells us what it means to be human. And while I’m Your Man certainly hones in on that idea, it’s much more compelling when it explores the inverse: how robotic and stuck in our ways humans can be, and what it takes to break down our walls. 107 min.
I’m Your Man
Maria Schrader’s film takes the intersection of love and technology to charming and unexpected places.
