Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda has released a new science fiction film centered on a couple who receive a generative AI version of their late son.
The story follows architect Otone and her husband Kensuke after their 7-year-old son Kakeru dies in an accident two years earlier. A company called REbirth supplies them with a humanoid replica that looks and speaks like the boy they lost. The film examines whether the artificial child possesses a soul, drawing on ideas from The Little Prince and themes of plants and trees having inner life.
