The Japanese director’s latest feature premiered at Cannes Film Fest to poor reviews and opens in U.S. theaters on July 17.
The tale concerms a couple welcomes an AI-powered android re-creation of their deceased son into their home.
All appears sweet and natural until bedtime, when instead of slipping beneath the covers, he takes a seat on his charging station and powers down, a small button on the back of his night emitting an eerie blue glow.
So begins the first official trailer for Japanese Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s latest feature, Sheep in the Box.
The film premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Fest to mixed critical response.
It is one of the weakest films of the prolific Kore-eda, who had won the Palme d’Or at Cannesn for Shoplifters in 2018. (Cate Blanchett was jury president).
— and it will open in New York and Los Angeles on July 24, before rolling out nationwide over the weeks that follow.
Such a premise might inspire some Black Mirror-style dystopian dread, but as the trailer’s tone makes clear, Kore-eda, characteristically, has a gentler, more humane take on what AI could portend for human relationships.
Koreeda wrote, directed and edited Sheep in the Box.
He reunites behind the camera with cinematographer Ryuto Kondo, who also shot Shoplifters and his acclaimed 2023 feature Monster. The film was produced by Fuji Television, Gaga, Toho and AOI Pro.
