Finch (2021)

November 5, 2021 12:33 PM

On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a robot, built to protect the life of his dying creator's beloved dog, learns about life, love, friendship, and what it means to be human. (Apple TV +)
posted by rozcakj (5 comments total)

Very good, for me it was a 10/10. Straightforward, no surprises - well made, beautiful shots.
posted by rozcakj at 1:04 PM on November 5, 2021

This was a terrific little movie. Hard to believe they were able to pull off a real movie with just one human, one (speaking) robot, and a dog, but damn if it wasn't one of the most touching movies I've seen in awhile. I like that they never even pretended to describe what happened to the planet (heavily suggesting that the ozone layer collapsed, but no reason why). You don't really get that many genre-adjacent movies that are audacious to just let get the premise out of the way because this movie isn't about the premise—it's about a man's love for his dog.

Apparently this movie was originally titled BIOS, which, thank goodness they retitled it.
posted by General Malaise at 4:50 PM on November 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

Also, apparently it was made in 2019 and was supposed to have several other actors, but they were edited out to make the story more "upbeat." I figured it was a total pandemic production, hence the extremely small cast.
posted by General Malaise at 4:56 PM on November 7, 2021 [3 favorites]

I really enjoyed this movie. Especially the Geoff (Jeff?) the robot. I had to switch off my inner fact checker to some extent (if the sun radiation was capable of almost instantly popping corn, shouldn't that van have a lot more shielding on its large windows, or heat dispersal vanes or something? And the roads and vehicles were in surprisingly good nick.)
But ultimately that stuff didn't matter at all because the story and the characters were so good.
posted by Zumbador at 8:16 AM on November 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

I was very pleasantly surprised. I came into this sour from another movie, and the IMDB short description is very different than how the film starts.

Looks like Hanks brought a little bit from 'Cast Away.'

My personal inner fact checker had to re-calibrate on F instead of C, but still, 70'C ambient - "remember to stay in the shade!" and, yeah, the lack of insulation and heavy duty AC (and massive fins to radiate the waste heat) and anti-UV measures like tinted windows.

Finch never wears eye protection! Nor the dog.

Power is an issue, but then they never have to gas up the RV and Jeff must suck a ton of juice. Also hydration and the how much water weighs and how much power it takes to haul it around.

No peeing into pee recyclers for this film, no siree (although if the ice caps did all melt, ocean water would be potable, salt-wise).

...was about Jeff finally coming into contact with human beings and how they were not what he expected and certainly not what his father, Finch, had prepared him for.

Thanks General Malaise. Wow, I'd love to see that and have my heart broken. We see a little of the re-edit in "trust no one!"
posted by porpoise at 10:13 PM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]