This week, Kill/Save was released to watch, for free, on Plex in the UK. The movie revolves around a cutting edge virtual reality world, a woman that goes missing within it, and her boyfriend’s desperate attempts to get her out.
Synopsis –
When simulation becomes as real as reality, how will you know where you are?
In a locked-down megacity where reality is optional, a lonely programmer risks his mind to rescue his girlfriend from a virtual prison — only to face a truth that challenges the very meaning of salvation and free will.
Martin is a programmer who creates virtual worlds, with the help of an artificial intelligence assistant. He lives a lonely existence, living and working in a tiny flat in a futuristic city in the midst of a long-term lockdown. His solitude is interrupted when his AI helper arranges for a home share with a mysterious woman. The two soon become involved in a relationship, but have differing ideas on the value of spending time in virtual worlds – she likes the escape from reality that total immersion offers, whilst he is distrustful of the corporations running the technology, and thinks it is better to stay connected to the real world. One day, having been given trial use of an experimental, cutting edge immersion pod, his girlfriend enters the virtual world, and doesn’t come back out again. Martin has no way to disconnect her, so is faced with a dilemma – should he immerse himself in the virtual world in order to pull her back out?
With virtual reality and the metaverse yet to really catch on in our present world, Kill/Save asks some interesting questions about what the future could hold for the technology. We know there are people who get perhaps a little too involved with videogames, particularly online games. If those worlds begin to feel more real, with haptic technology that allow the sensations to feel close enough to reality, are we at risk of losing people completely to worlds in which they have more control. As life gets continuously worse out here, what’s stopping them from going deeper in there? Kill/Save ups the ante by setting the story within a long-term lockdown due to a virus. If you can’t venture outside, what choice do you have but to venture online?
The movie also brings up tricky subjects like online relationships. If you have a real world partner, and embark on an online relationship, most people would generally consider that cheating. What if that relationship is with an NPC, though? Artificially intelligent romantic partners are something that has become a part of our world now, and these questions are already being asked. The possibilities of more intense physical exchanges with these ‘partners’, though, muddies the waters even more.
Kill/Save shows the effects this kind of jealousy can have on a relationship, and the consequences. It also looks at the potential dangers of trusting corporations to run these virtual environments, and the virtual characters we encounter, where romantic feelings can be exploited, and the potentially confusing line between reality and virtuality can be used to trick us. The movie also has some fun online sequences – as the main character investigates his girlfriend’s online whereabouts, he is forced to encounter NPCs who are not necessarily inclined to help him in his quest, allowing for some Groundhog Day-like shenanigans as he has to use trial and error in order to learn the best path through opposition to get to his goal.
Kill/Save is directed by Den Kryuchkov, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Olga Loyanich. The film stars Matt Testro, Stephanie Gil, and Eric Goode, amongst others. It is available to watch now, for free, on Plex in the UK. It is scheduled for release to streaming in the US on November 17th. You can check out the trailer below.
CYBERSTOPIA – Discord
Cyberstopia now has a Discord server! Please join us and build a community for cyberpunk and dystopia discussion. We have sections for all the latest news, channels for discussion of The Ghost in the Shell series, as well as upcoming shows like Edgrerunners 2, Blade Runner 2099, and Neuromancer, as well as an author section with a number of cyberpunk authors talking about their work, giving updates on your current projects, etc… It’s a great place to hang out.
https://discord.gg/purcXCnXzE
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