Boy Makes Girl is a sci-fi tinged drama that doesn't feature any moments of real horror. Of course, if I had read the synopsis before hand that would have been obvious. Written and co-directed by Mark Elias, alongside Mark David, this heartfelt drama uses sci-fi as part of its storytelling, but it isn't really the main aspect of this.
Aaron Barnes (Elias) is an autistic I.T genius who desperately wants to experience what it is to love. After some failed dates, in which his eccentric behaviour puts off his dates, he comes to a unique decision, to create the perfect girlfriend using his knowledge of A.I and robotics. That strangely turns out to be the easy part, with his newly created girlfriend, Emma (Meeghan Holaway) outwardly resembling a real human perfectly. Initially things go well for them, but when she begins to exhibit behaviours outside of her programming, Aaron struggles to retain control. Elsewhere, Aaron forms an unlikely friendship with an elderly man, the cantankerous Ben (Paul Dooley), whose rough and selfish ways help Aaron understand people far more than his own detailed notes ever did.
The elephant in the room is Emma, with her creation really glossed over. There is no real explanation how he was able to make her, though he already had a working A.I construct, so that part was explainable enough. It was interesting seeing her transformation from a person who acted just as 'robotically' as Aaron, to becoming more and more integrated into the world. Her change does trigger an eventual transformation in the man however. Ignoring the part about a lifelike robot swiftly being created, the film is really quite grounded with the events that happen. The film is a journey for Aaron, his autism has made him feel forever isolated and apart from the rest of society, unable to understand people's actions, and taking many things literally. This does fall into stereotypes, with Aaron's genius intellect a familiar trope that autistic characters in films and TVs often display. Moments, such as when he is walking around with mathematical equations floating around the world reminded me a lot of similar instances in the hospital drama, The Good Doctor. His behaviour is very typical, but there is a get out clause in that Elias himself is on the autism spectrum, so his portrayal comes from a place of love.
It often felt like things were going to take a turn for the truly dark, there was a definite Black Mirror type feel to how wrong things begin to go for the hapless protagonist, but the stakes are never as bleak as they sometimes appeared to be. One scene for example, I really believed he was about to get beaten up, but the scene ended up going in a slightly less nasty direction. His lowest point might have been where a typical Black Mirror episode would head, but the third act really is a path of redemption, with this keeping an optimistic and feel good aspect to Aaron's journey. It may share some similarities with Black Mirror, but this is Black Mirror-lite, with everything working out for the best, while important life lessons are learnt. The acting of the core cast was all fine for the story being told, I thought bar owner Geneva (Saundra McClain) was a lovely character, and Dooley's performance made for a character that slowly became more likeable as the movie went on.
This may not have been a horror, but I didn't mind my time with this. It is nice to get some positivity in films sometimes, as that is something horror is often lacking, so the feel good culmination of events was something I did enjoy, even if there were many, many awkward moments along the way. The award winning Boy Makes Girl was released on October 24th on VOD platforms, including iTunes and Apple TV.
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