Loss of Feeling: Cold machines, colder people

Is it worth your time?

Look, if you’re into the kind of old-school, slightly dusty sci-fi that worries about machines taking our jobs, you’ll probably find something to chew on here. It’s got that specific, stiff energy of a film that really wants to warn you about the future. But if you’re looking for a breezy Friday night watch, avoid this like the plague. It’s heavy, it’s grey, and it doesn’t care if you’re having a good time or not. 🤖

The whole thing kicks off with this bright-eyed engineer who thinks he’s saving the world by replacing human workers with these giant, clunky metal shells. You can tell he thinks he’s the hero. The movie lingers on his face just a second too long as he watches the first prototype move. It’s supposed to be a moment of triumph, but it just feels... empty. Almost like he knows he’s ruined everything.

Then the military types show up. They don't even have to talk much; you just know they're going to ruin his life. There’s a scene in a sterile office that goes on for ages, just people standing around in suits looking ominous. It felt like watching paint dry, but in a way that makes you nervous.

Oddly specific observations:

• The robots look like they’re made of scrap metal and bad intentions.
• The background extras in the factory scenes have this weird, glazed look in their eyes—like they’d rather be anywhere else. Maybe they were.
• The sound design is mostly just loud clanking, which honestly starts to give you a headache after forty minutes.
• There’s a close-up on a lightbulb that stays there for, I swear, ten seconds. What was that about?

It’s not as slick as The Penalty, but it has this raw, unpolished grit that you don't see much anymore. It isn't trying to be pretty. It’s trying to be a mirror, I guess. A very cracked, dusty mirror.

I found myself zoning out during the long speeches about productivity. You know, the kind of movie dialogue that sounds like a pamphlet on labor laws? Yeah, there’s plenty of that. You could probably skip twenty minutes in the middle and not miss a single beat, but the ending has this weird, chilling finality to it that stuck with me while I was doing the dishes later.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not even that fun. But it’s got teeth. Sometimes that’s enough. Just don't expect it to hold your hand while it drags you through the mud of its own logic. ⚙️