Sheep in the Box
When we first meet architect Otone Komoto (Haruka Ayase, "Our Little Sister"), she's searching for her missing cat, Othello, but when she comes across a heart-shaped marketing tchotchke from REbirth with the slogan 'you're not ready to forget me,' we'll learn she and her husband Kensuke (Daigo Yamamoto, "Slapstick Brothers") faced a far great loss two years earlier. She'll adapt far more readily than he when the humanoid designed to look and sound like their 7 year-old son Kakeru (newcomer Rimu Kuwaki) arrives, but Kensuke knows that what we cannot see is far more important than what we can, just like Oto reads in 'The Little Prince' about the "Sheep in the Box."
Laura's Review: C+
Writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda ("Nobody Knows," "Monster") takes on one metaphor too many in a film that recalls everything from the South Korean couple whose baby died while they raised a virtual one at an Internet cafe to Steven Spielberg's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" about a child robot yearning for the love of its mother. Initially the film engages contrasting the different reactions of the couple to the humanoid replacement of their child, but when Koreeda tries to connect humanoids to networks of trees and woods which remain 'alive' after the tree has died, well, he wonders off into the woods himself.
At first Kakeru's arrival replicates the phenomenon of a man feeling neglected when his wife turns all her attention to their child, although he leaves soon after, telling Oto she had the humanoid delivered on a game day. When he returns, though, he's told to order take-out, Oto preferring not to eat that evening as Kakeru cannot ingest food (nor be immersed in water). Kakeru literally comes between them, sitting in the middle of the bed as Oto reads to him while Kensuke turns to face the wall. But the man who makes references to Tamagotchis and Roombas finally connects when Kakeru takes interest in the train line the real boy had memorized, as well as the trains themselves. Meanwhile his bond with Oto deepens when he takes interest in the models she is building, surprising her with his knowledge of architect Ryue Nishizawa who she reveres for his talent for connecting different materials, like wood and glass (another metaphor!).
Kakeru's behavior begins to change after Oto sees him wander off and speak to a stranger in the trees. In a plot turn that recalls the TV series 'Humans,' he will sneak off to gather with his own after that humanoid removes his GPS and when Oto takes him to a craft store, he now wants model trees, intent on designing their new home. Then Oto's sister Alice (Nana Seino, "After the Rain"), her two nephews and her mother (Kimiko Yo, "Departures," "Shin Godzilla") drop in unexpectedly, revealing a mother-daughter rift that is echoed in Oto's changing relationship to Kakeru.
A subplot about a custom house Oto is designing for a man who wants his mother to move in only for her to turn his offer down never really ties into the main narrative. We will also be left to wonder why, after Kakeru suffers a fall and is taken to REbirth for repairs, the technician never mentions that his GPS has been removed, let alone why Oto and Kensuke would load up a truck with Kakeru and his like and drive them out to her mother's in Hiroshima. The film's third act becomes increasingly muddled, although Koreeda's message about A.I.'s assistance in letting go (see also "Marjorie Prime," "After Yang" and even "Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die") is deepened with his empathy for the machines attempting to model themselves on a living forest, different materials which don't go together.
Robin's Review: B
Otone (Haruka Ayase) has grieved ever since she lost her young son Kakeru two years ago. A new hi-tech company, Rebirth, offers a solution – replace the lost child with an AI robotic replica. So, what could possibly go wrong in "Sheep in the Box"?
Writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda explores the realm of science fiction in what our world may become in the not-too-distant future – plus, we get a good dose of The Little Prince.
As any mother would do after the loss of a beloved child, Otone was, and still is, overcome by grief. When she learns about Rebirth, she wholeheartedly embraces the idea of getting her little boy back. Her husband Kensuke (Daigo Yamamoto) is less than convinced that it is good idea. When new Kakeru calls him "Papa," he responds immediately, "I'm not your father."
Koreeda's study in human nature is effective as it shows the lost joy Otone finds once again with her little "boy." She is an architect designing a home for a particularly difficult customer and thrilled when Kakeru shows interest in the project, even making suggestions.
Unfortunately, this idyllic new life is fraught with mystery. While at the park one day, she sees a stranger talking to Kakeru and she cannot get any information from the boy about it. (It is explained to us.) This leads to a plotline that takes us away from the family dilemma coping with our new technology.
The director's handling of our brave new world brings us to the point: Does technology go too far and introduce deep psychological problems, exacerbating the loss instead of replacing it? I think that humans are not ready for what the AI revolution might, can or will do to our society, especially the most vulnerable.
With our current rotten political climate and the possibility that robotic AI will replace us does not bode well for our future and I think that is Koreeda's point.
Neon releases "Sheep in the Box" in select theaters on 7/24/26, expanding on 7/31/26.
