by Martin Unsworth
AI is big news at the moment, and the latest film to bring the horrific possibilities of relying on artificial intelligence, particularly in human-type robots, is T.I.M. The acronym stands for Technologically Integrated Manservant, and a prototype has been foisted on Abi (Georgina Campbell) and her husband Paul (Mark Rowley), as Abi is working on the project at Integrate Robotics. In true fashion, the boss is demanding everything is ironed out so they can go on sale before the Chinese version appears, even if it means cutting corners. Their new helper, who takes the name Tim (Eamon Farren), looks creepy but tries to be helpful, incorporating itself with the couple’s smart home, using access to their emails and such to arrange their appointments. While the T.I.M.s are meant to serve their owners, this particular model begins to take a shine to Abi, particularly when it gets some mixed messages (at one point, Tim walks in on the couple making love as he’d noticed raised heart rate and vital signs and Abi doesn’t cover up, unusual since we’d just seen her flinch from an overly affectionate greeting at a party).
In what could be a companion piece with M3GAN in the ‘warning to the human race’ genre, T.I.M. presents a worryingly prescient scenario, a Black Mirror-type story that gets dark pretty quickly. Farren is disturbingly excellent as the android with the hots for his owner, and Campbell and Rowley are believable as the couple attempting to salvage their relationship after Paul’s had a previous indiscretion. Abi’s lack of trust in her partner and suspicion that he could be attracted to their new neighbour (Amara Karan) sets up the situation perfectly.
Sentient tech isn’t a new trope; robots have been turning on their masters since the dawn of cinema, but the advancement of AI and the worries that it might bring plays well for the film. Similarly, the use of deepfake tech comes into play at one point, and there are the privacy issues of allowing tech to monitor our personal correspondence. While T.I.M. may not have the shock value of M3GAN, it’s still a disturbing situation, even if we can’t work out whether Tim is equipped with the necessary parts to consummate its intended ‘relationship’ with Abi.
Although T.I.M. pretty much sticks to the expected formula, it does so well and is a worthy entry into the android-run-amok subgenre.
T.I.M. is available on Netflix from August 16th.
