ABE (2013)

Did someone mention this feels like a pitch rather than a short film in its own right ? Just checking with both the IMDb and The Short Of The Week website it just so happens to turn out that writer/director Rob McLellan has been given the go ahead by MGM to turn this in to a feature length film . If we're being cynical then it's easy to state that this was indeed the agenda behind ABE the short film . Not to be entirely cynical it should be pointed out that a lot of short films use the exact same technique and when it's obvious like the Edward Snowdon inspired short VERAX boy oh boy it is too painfully obvious for words and if someone was standing at a street corner holding a begging bowl with a sign round their neck saying " Give me some money to make a feature film guv . I haven't eaten for three days " it wouldn't be any more cynical In its favour it does in grammar terms have a present continuous feel . By that I mean the actions Abe has started happened before the story started and are still continuing . Some suspension of disbelief might be needed as to why someone felt the need to build a robot with emotions and the fact a robot walking around kidnapping or at the very least stalking women might lead to police attention , but I guess if recent cases are to go by the police can't investigate any sort of sexual crime unless it's thirty years old . Abe does give away enough exposition to make the audience clearly understand his motives and they are believable to an extent . What ABE holds as a winning hand is the emotionless but effective vocal talents of Sam Hoare . Yeah a flat computer voice wreaking havoc while speaking calmly has been done many times before most famously in 2001 but here it works very well . I somehow doubt if the feature length version of ABE will be a massive success but here's hoping it doesn't pander to Hollywood by having lots of explosions and CGI

Undoubtedly, many will come to this short after having read that the visual effects artist/director has managed to secure a feature of the same name and idea. On that, kudos to the filmmaker. While the visual effects specifically that of our anti-hero, a robot, ABE, are great to watch - the short itself is lacking a story. I guess one could say this is a futuristic slice of life sketch and not a story; a 'character study' of a robot without a story. The edit helps the rather bland camera work and of course the post also went a long way to help create the sinister look. However, this story is hardly original and moreover fails in being compelling. One can foresee the character of Abe is what the studios bought into and will develop a 90-120 minute film around with many more characters for him to be unleashed on. Thumbs up to the visual artistry but am not convinced any filmmaker deserves to be the next big thing if they are incapable of story-telling.

British director Rob McLellan is probably one of the most prolific workers in his branch these days. "Abe" is already the 8th short-film he shot in the last 4 years and probably his most known work to this day. I wonder if we will soon see a feature film from him, possibly starring Abe or having him in a cameo. I'm not too sure I'd go see it, however, as this eight-and-a-half-minute short film didn't particularly impress me.We see a woman waking up gagged and tied to a chair. Moments later, her kidnapper enters the scene. It's Abe, the robot. From this moment on, until nearly towards the end he holds a monologue about inner motivations, love and rejection. I guess the point of this film is to show us how all these experiences could also happen to human beings, but I really wasn't convinced. At one point, when he asks his victim: "Do I have a soul?" and the camera switches to the victim, it was almost unintentionally hilarious like she must have asked herself "WTF is going on here? This can't be real." Anyway, I didn't feel any sympathy for the robot and this is probably one of the keys why I couldn't really enjoy this one that much. The execution was okay, but the story simply wasn't compelling enough. So for now, I'd say give this one a pass.

The scene is quickly set: an attractive young woman wakes up restrained in a secluded area, and sees a collection of operating knives. Then someone approaches, and it turns out not to be a fellow person, but... a humanoid robot. He starts talking, and the terrifying truth becomes clear to us.I won't give away more. While the backstory isn't original, this is without a doubt the most compelling representation in this medium. The 8 and a half minutes running time flies by with no lulls. This goes into themes that would make Asimov proud: are robots equivalent to people? At what point does building and programming them as servants become a civil rights issue? And this adds a rarer, chilling point: what will be the consequences of this, arguably, slavery?The acting is excellent. If any one performance carries this, it is without a doubt that of Abe, the former butler-bot, or botler, if you will. It effortlessly strikes the difficult balance between a sparse, detached tone and a more affected one. Never letting us forget that this is a creation, not something... someone? who was born, and yet with the ever-present quality of emotion, drive, a past that has left an imprint.FX are flawless, our titular mechanical endo-skeleton always feels like you could reach out and touch him. And they show the necessary restraint, with such graphic tools at their disposal - at no point is this flashy. The design is simultaneously creepy and vulnerable, and you could see this/him in a normal home, with a mix of the utilitarian and the "familiar".There is disturbing content(as an underlying sense throughout the entire production)and blood in this. I recommend this to any fan of Asimov. 8/10