(Una Mullally's article appeared in the Irish Times, 9/18.)
Much like the “on paper” aspirations of human-robot relations, Claire O’Reilly’s Love+ does many things very well, tackling the ever-intriguing question of the consequences of robots encroaching on our daily lives.
Breffni Holahan plays a pitch-perfect so-complex-she’s-uncomplicated robot, and Maeve O’Mahony conjures a neat mix of neediness, vulnerability and selfishness as the robot’s owner.
There’s the uneasiness of Spike Jonze’s Her, and farcical elements that call to mind Madeleine Olnek’s Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, but as the rom-com short-circuits, broader ethical questions are raised in parallel, with some clever digital interventions.
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