Kore-eda's 8th Cannes Film Stumbles With 1 AI Child in Sheep in the Box
Updated
Updated · Variety · May 17
Kore-eda's 8th Cannes Film Stumbles With 1 AI Child in Sheep in the Box
3 articles · Updated · Variety · May 17
Two years after a 7-year-old boy dies, “Sheep in the Box” follows grieving parents who bring home an AI replica of their son, a premise the review says promises far more than the film delivers.
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s sci-fi fable is described as sweet but limp because it drifts among several possible stories—grief drama, sinister android tale and child-cult subplot—without committing to any of them.
Haruka Ayase’s architect mother anchors the film, but the review says her character remains one-note, while the replica child gains agency without the movie ever clarifying who or what he is.
The critic argues the film’s AI ideas already feel dated, saying its central question—whether machines can think or feel—lands as thin satire played too straight.
If an AI can perfectly mimic your lost loved one, what makes your memory of them uniquely human?
As AI resurrects the dead, are we creating digital ghosts or powerful healing tools?