When machines are being used to tell people how to manage the everyday in the the sublime and thoughtful science fiction drama With Love and a Major Organ, sometimes that individual can’t get to live the life the way they want. It’s a problem today’s society may well face if social media platforms and AI get their way. If there are issues to be found, just what this drama reveals can be considered terrifying.
Thankfully, this film is more of a comedy romance than the other genre. Julia Lederer wrote the stage play that’s now a motion picture, and I’m glad she’s in full control of this adaptation. With director Kim Albright to navigate the cinematic version, what’s presented shows just how terribly lost some folks can get when they let technology do all the thinking. The performances are sublime, and a few of the characters we meet look like they’re simply lost in the quagmire known as life.
In this film’s case, Anabel (Anna Maguire) isn’t sure about what she wants. She works at a Virtual Insurance company whose slogan is “where the loss may be virtual, but the feelings are real.” She’s not like others with their eyes glued to their smartphones and consulting a smartphone program known as LifeZapp for advice. Instead, she actually wants to talk to people and enjoy a breath of fresh air. She doesn’t see her job as too mundane. Instead of being sucked into this world where she has no emotion, this film shows her having plenty of it, whereas others are unsure.
Sometimes, we’re supposed to see the satire that is instilled at a party where people are more concerned with their social media presence than to socialise, and at other times, we see them normal–until a ringtone alerts them to how they must react to a circumstance. This wildly surreal film has bits to like, and it’s rare to find a piece of science fiction that’ll get you thinking. It makes me consider shutting down social media for good. Nobody should use it to look for validation for anything, be it emotional or just to feel like they’re in the spotlight.
While I would not be like Anabel and talk to random strangers, I felt for her. Although her story concerns being in love with a rather uncaring George (Hamza Haq) who doesn’t get it, the circumstances of how she’ll connect with him make for an intriguing film. I was impressed with how the heart is represented with the mechanical appendage put on screen. George is such a character who delays reading the news by a day since he’s fearful of learning something that he’s not prepared to handle.
If I had to turn to a feel good verse to say what this film is about, I’d probably say “Once more, with feeling” would sum up what the heroine here longs to express. While some can do it through art, others are just more isolated and can’t do a darn thing.
Also, there are elements which I read as unintentionally inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic prose. And when it’s set against the dreary and autumn landscape of Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC, I could feel what’s ebbing in between the frames. I kept on wondering if a raven would screech, “Nevermore!” to pantomime Anabel’s plight before she finds relief. When considering shows the tell-tale heart is mechanical, I truly have to wonder what’s left beating.
4 Stars out of 5
With Love and a Major Organ Movie Trailer
