Love Me - Sundance Review

You’re the only you - now you see me.

Love Me premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Set on a vacant earth thousands of years into the future, a robotic buoy and a satellite make a connection. Discovering social media, Me and I Am reflects on love, life, and what’s real.

The Sundance Film Festival is the best event to exist. Love Me is a unique love story that delves into the sci-fi realm. It’s a movie about us seen through an AI lens. It's a decisive film about making relationships work but its story is not developed enough, repeating messages.

The film centers are a buoy and a satellite. They call themselves Me and I Am. Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun embraced a unique story about two electronics figuring out the world. Together they discover new things but question perplexing emotions. What would two electronics know about happiness? That’s what they’re attempting to uncover.

Stewart and Yeun have electric chemistry. I'd watch them in another film. The best part of their performance is their vulnerability. They took risks, creating a moving experience. The pair connected to deep emotions.

Acting in this movie was a challenge. Stewart commented that acting in Love Me was a privilege. They voiced their character’s robotic speech, acted out movements as animated characters, and also performed live-action sequences.

Although it’s a powerful film, the messages interrupt the story. It got tedious in the middle half. It was also slow. Love Me is a live-action adaptation of Pixar’s Wall-E. I’m not complaining, it’s just that it lacked originality. These two electronics learn to communicate on a vacant planet. Plus, the design of Me is reminiscent of the minions in Despicable Me. That was distracting.

My favorite part about Sundance is the interviews with the cast and crew. It’s a chance to learn more about the film. The filmmakers were excited about the different mediums. This film has three different techniques: robot mechanics, CGI animation, and live-action.

Filmmakers built the robots. The motions of the robots felt real, reflecting emotions. A tremendous group of animators were involved in the animated sequences. Sound designers created a simulated sound to expand the time scale.

Sam and Andy Zuchero conceived the idea of what communication between machines would be like. They spent four weeks shooting the film, two of which were dedicated to the electronics. As they posed a sci-fi angle, they realized it was a love story. Love Me is one of the most unique love stories. It branches into several different layers.

Love Me has multiple meanings. The first is how technology consumes our lives - like social media. Since it’s the only example Me has about earth life, she obsesses over making everything reminiscent without understanding the true meaning.

Relationships are another theme in Love Me. Me and I Am copy behaviors and the lifestyle of an internet couple. Relationships are not easy. By finding connections that work we can make something real.

This is a film about exploring yourself. Your life on social media is not your whole world. Eventually, we look up the most simple questions on the Internet. It’s two lives. Your information is not always protected on the web. Our best life is when we love ourselves. Build you and not just on the Internet.

Once Love Me is released, take a look at it. I had no idea what to expect which is a good thing. We need films like this. Everyone cared deeply about the film, protecting the actors and all ideas.