Jung-E starts by telling us about the current situation. Namely, because of climate change, humans have had to migrate to shelters in space. A déjà vu that has become a cliché but hey, we try not to judge and hang on because we are still at the first minute. Shelters attack other shelters as well as the land. A mega echo of "Star Wars" but, there is still hope. We will say even more, it is an introduction whose promise leaves a huge place to the imagination.
The expectation of the sequel becomes even more exciting than the expectation of the film itself, announced for a while by Netflix, which has provided the financing (about 15 million euros). Since we have already been placed in a vast cliché, we can hear and see in our heads, weapons with multicolored lights, space, colossal rockets, this atmosphere proper to "Blade Runner" and Vangelis. Yes, but no. What promised to be an innovative science fiction film, perhaps the second super baby, after "Train to Busan", by director Yeon Sang-ho, quickly falls into a spiral of clichés that is difficult to separate.
Maybe the other side of the coin of an absolutely perfect film (actors, story, choreography, editing, human relations, script…) like "Train to Busan" or like "The Sixth Sense" by M. Night Shyamalan, is to get to surpass it. To make a film that would be up to the task or even better. Waiting can quickly become a disappointment.
The topic focuses on the development of an army of robots that would have the brain, turned data, of Captain Yun Jung-Yi. "Alchemy of souls" transferred to centuries much later. The search for a perfect body where one could enter, neither seen nor known. "Get out", where the main character implants some of the brains of his old friends inside the skulls of young black men. They serve as hosts for someone else's personality. Anguish!. "La abuela", the grandmother in question takes all the essence of her little girl. The subject has been touched and retouched.
But the topic in question, interesting or not, stands out from the promising introduction. It could have been set in another context without being told about wars, shelters in space and settlements attacking the earth. And the moment we say, OK, okay, we're going to focus on robots, their AI and the possible transhumanist implications, even the subject that the film seems to want to bring us, very quickly becomes a sentimental story where we expect to hear "Omma" in a languorous tone from one moment to the next.
The beginning of the year began with the announcement of ChatGPT, which has been open to the public since the end of November. This program, which is ready to dumb down human beings a little more, is the product of the latest advances in artificial intelligence. It is able to "search, sort, structure and present in seconds original, coherent and natural answers to any query in multiple human languages". A bigger "story box". (Elon Musk behind all this, the thing can only be much bigger).
We are in the mood. Artificial Intelligence in the spotlight, a science fiction film, Jung_E, with director Yeon Sang-ho… We can only fantasize! This story between mother and daughter is very good but unfortunately, deviates from the subject that attracted us to this film, creating some confusion: what is the ultimate goal of this film? Prove to us that despite this sanitized world of machines, human beings will always have emotions?
Jung_E analyzes a society in which humans seem to have lost that spark that makes them human beings. The robot, prettier than Schwarzenegger, develops its own personality from the moment a human brain is integrated into its skull. The obsessive idea of immortality of old movies, has almost disappeared in favor of heroes with superpowers and perfect bodies.
"Excellent performance by Ryoo Kyung-so"
A lot of details could have been developed. Sang-Hun, the director of the ambitious and unsympathetic laboratory that seems to have come straight out of the film "Brazil", directed by Terry Gilliam in 1985. Excellent interpretation, moreover of Ryoo Kyung-so, who had already worked with Yeon Sang-ho, in his previous production, "Hellbound". We could relate her role, or rather her personality, with that of Tilda Swinton in "Okja". As soon as we understand "the thing", we want more, but the subject drowns once again in this cold and insensitive amalgam of machines.
"What money allows to have as privileges"
Another detail, classes, statuses, what money allows to have as privileges. We can replicate ourselves in three kinds of humanoids, depending on the means. The rich can afford robots that will have the same rights as humans. It is often said that money, anything material, will not be taken to the grave. In this case, it seems that wealth will allow the individual to have the best life in the more expensive robot. The middle class can also afford robots, a little less efficient, but with some rights. The cheaper robot undeniably refers to the trade of our data, which circulates freely to the right and left of the web without our agreement. It feels like once again in "Snowpierce" or in the middle of the Hindu hereditary castes. Are we masters of our destiny? Are these the circumstances that surround us, that lead us to unilateral paths and leave us no choice? (If I don't get vaccinated, I lose my job…).
As soon as the term "reply" is mentioned, a huge window opens through which we can see Rutger Hauer dying in tears in the rain, Vangelis chords echoing in our heads (Blade Runner, of course). Or during Seo-Hyun's test-interrogation. Or when we have to see at the little big manitou. Could it be dehumanization that is the big issue? The atmosphere is cold, metallic, grey. Machines have feelings and emotions because they have human brains. In the midst of all these subjects, all these details, we notice Baudelaire's famous spleen. "A guilty feeling of melancholy, loneliness, imminence of death in a heavy, oppressive and decadent atmosphere" (Wikipedia).
Jung_E would have been better if it had been given more time. Like a mini-series that could have developed every detail. Too many topics touched in haste, like a 6000-word presentation. The abstractness of the décor and the emotions leave strong resonances with all these people who walk around the planet, their noses in their mobile phones. Like individualities inside a bubble that would cross without seeing each other. That is the reality today.
"Posthumous work of actress Kang so-yeon, who died on May 7, 2022"
In the midst of all this coldness, lack of empathy, "non-life" that has rubbed off on humans, Seo-Hyun, played by Kang so-Yeon, has a hard time managing his emotions. As if she doesn't know what it's like to have an emotion. (This is the posthumous work of actress Kang so-yeon, who died on May 7, 2022, before seeing it broadcast). Through technology, she tries, at all costs, to communicate with her mother. To believe that the human being, by dint of finding everything, immediately, has ended up integrating in his brain that everything is possible with technology. Absolutely everything. Even to keep your data in a computer with a human body. The subject had already been touched in the avant-garde British series "Years and Years" or in the film "Lucy" by Luc Besson.
Yeon Sang-ho was not short of ideas but on the contrary, the scenario suffers from too many elements, unfortunately not exploited. On the other hand, one thing is certain, whether we liked it or not, Jung_E has let a lot of virtual ink flow since its release, just three days ago. It is not a film that leaves us indifferent, either by the theme raised or by the talent of the director.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCwV2r8sL6M&ab_channel=NetflixAsia
