Here
is a scary thought—when humanity starts to integrate itself with digital
systems, it will become susceptible to both physical and computer-borne
viruses. Just ask the hacker (or so-called breaker) Mach1. When she
accidentally downloads a weaponized artificial intelligence, it takes over her
body, but they will have to work together to survive the nefarious agents that
want to control it in Philippe McKie’s short film, Breaker
(trailer here),
which screened during the 2017 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Blame
the junky. Whether she intended harm or not, she is the one who hired Mach1 to
break the encrypted file containing the A.I. Much to her panic, the A.I.
immediately started deleting files to make room for itself. However, when the program
convinces the Breaker bad guys really are following her/them, they start to
work together. If Mach1 can get to a port to download the A.I. into the wild
internet, it will repay the favor. To survive that long, Mach1 will let her
digital parasite control her body when they face-off against the sinister hunter
tracking them. It is sort of like Neo’s kung fu sequences in The Matrix, but McKie’s emphasis is on
grit rather than razzle dazzle.
Breaker is smart and
briskly paced film that makes you think about cerebral topics like the
Singularity, earthly issues, such as drug addiction, and the general state of humanity.
He creates a world that owes a debt to Bladerunner
and most subsequent cyberpunk films, but he makes it feel grungier and more
dope-infested. The production design is first-rate, but it is Yuka Tomatsu who
makes us care. She is terrific as Mach1, no matter who happens to be controlling
her body at the moment.
