Sheep in the Box

One of two new films from LIFF favourite Hirokazu Koreeda screening this year, alongside Look Back, Sheep in the Box is a moving sci-fi drama about bereft parents turning to AI to rebuild their family.

Grieving their young son Kakeru who died in mysterious circumstances, Otone and her husband Kensuke turn to the Rebirth company to supply them with a state-of-the-art humanoid replication of Kakeru. The humanoid develops rapidly and appears to have memories it couldn’t possibly have.

“By the end, it is clear that Koreeda has taken the stuff of dystopian cyberpunk nightmares and turned it into an elegant, wistful fairytale…to fashion a beautiful allegory in which all the main characters are reborn.” — Damon Wise, Deadline