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Companion

The teaser/preview for Companion, a thriller-horror challenger, gives a quiet clue to the major premise. That means some patrons will already have the reveal while others take a few minutes. Not to worry because some fun comes from picking out the early clues to the identity of the heroine, Iris (Sophie Thatcher)

See you will, and go you will, as I give you my SPOILER ALERT: go ahead and see Presence or Heretic because my criticism depends on your knowing that she is a ROBOT. In a time when most cinema tries to be oblique to give you the satisfaction of figuring out the central motif, Companion rewards you with the gift of soon seeing the allegory about the fraught relationship of men and women in modern times.

Josh (Jack Quaid) enjoys his obedient companion, Iris, not because she appreciates his greatness but because that’s the way she is programmed: total fealty and obedience. The commentary on men who must have lapdogs for companions is on the nose for many contemporary men who find happiness in control. As the couple parties at an estate sequestered far from civilization, a robot or two joins them but not without the usual horror tropes of scares and murder, not so much as the notions of autonomy and morality emerge.

The robot motif works to stimulate thought of balance in relationships and gender equality with the two women, Iris and Kat (Megan Suri), who is the sanest among the group, the girlfriend of the rich property owner, Sergey (Rupert Friend), who is married, giving us a real-life parallel to the Josh/Iris arrangement, both with the ladies fulfilling their libidos.

Once past establishing the contemporary allegory about men and women, Companion deals some satisfactorily ghoulish incidents to cement the notion that male dominance has a short life. Along the way, gay love is a sub motif, where even the current freedom has challenges to keep its happiness. No one escapes modern sensibilities.

While in the current fashion of Her and I Robot, to name only two, Companion is more straightforward with its allegory: no matter, as it is a good time for horror-thriller fans and those who like their modern parallels sharp. If the current buzz words for obvious message are “on the nose,” then the psychological thriller Companion should reflect the obvious parallels between the story of a sex robot and the living world of male dominance. True, but with the warning that this dark comedy is no foolish English major mockup—it hits home about gender politics with a finesse that magnifies the flaws of our constantly human but flawed attempts at equality.

Companion makes a better film if you know early on that Iris is a sex robot, a brilliant design of a conservative cabal that seriously wants submission from not only females like Iris, but several males, strongly representing a gay orientation. That Iris turns out to be no subservient—smart and sensual and vulnerable, just like the human counterpart.

Writer/director Drew Hancock has crafted an allegory that challenges the constant urge of men to dominate women as evidenced by Josh (Jack Quaid) with his robotic companion, Iris. When she turns on him, she is seeking an equality and happiness that comes from mutual respect and compassion in an autonomous atmosphere where she can grow into a humane woman and he into a moral male.

Companion

Director: Drew Hancock (Tenacious D: Time Fixers)

Screenplay: Hancock

Cast: Sophie Thatcher (Sister Barnes), Jack Quaid (The Hunger Games)

Rating: R

Length: 1h 37m

John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com

 

John DeSando