I just watched Spike Jonze's short-movie titled
"I'm Here". No words can describe my feelings, it was simply beautiful! The 30 minutes movie tells about a love story between two robots named Sheldon (Andrew Garfield) and Francesca (Sienna Guillory).
Sheldon is described as a lonely boy with a plainly boring life. He spends his every day life working at the library, riding a bus because he can't drive. One day when he's standing at the bus station, he sees Francesca for the first time, who's driving her car miserably but seems like she's having so much fun. They meet again the next day at the same place, but this time Francesca isn't alone. She's with three friends who invite Sheldon to join them.
While Francesca's friends are having fun, Sheldon takes a walk with Francesca and get to know each other. Francesca attaches some papers in which she drew herself and wrote "I'm Here" on the planks. Francesca falls and injures her knee, but Sheldon repairs it by his own toolkit. Francesca shows him her favorite CD, and Sheldon seems to fascinate her. The next day, they meet again in front of Sheldon's work place and spend more time together. In short, they begin to date.
And this is where the real story begins. I don't want to talk any more details because I'll be spoiling you. So basically, the love story may be familiar for those who loves to watch romance movies (especially the likes of Korean movie themes). It's simply sweet, meaningful, and touchy. But what makes this movie different is the idea of using robots instead of human as the principal characters. The robots themselves are not perfectly formed, their heads are CPU (like Sheldon's), so you can see the CD-Rom and Floppy A drive. But they have a pair of expressive eyes—you can really tell their feelings.
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| Andrew Garfield as Sheldon |
Andrew once again did a good job (in making me cry as well). He totally fits into the character of Sheldon. We can't see his face, but his voice is so vulnerable, and his gesture is so assuring that we can understand what kind of guy Sheldon is. Sienna is also able to portray a cheerful-but-miserable type of girl in the robotic form. This robot couple can complete each other; Francesca brings the fun to Sheldon, while Sheldon brings her the true meaning of loving, that he's willing to sacrifice everything to her. Another cute thing is, that this movie location is Los Angeles, but Andrew and Sienna speak in British accents, which is awesome!
And you may not question Spike Jonze's ability. His movies "Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation.", and "Where The Wild Things Are" are all critically acclaimed. I enjoyed all of them, because Spike seems to emphasize the actors' expressions & the leading characters instead of the screenplay. Hopefully he will make more movies like these!
You can watch "I'm Here" on its
official website, or you can see it below.
I'm Here from nappyafro on Vimeo.
