Omeleto | LOVE IS REAL | Omeleto @Omeleto | Uploaded July 2024 | Updated October 2024, 13 hours ago.
A couple is reunited by an A.I. assistant.
LOVE IS REAL is used with permission from Calvin Sang. Learn more at https://calvinsang.com.
Millie has come home after a night out without her partner Jamie. Jamie, however, isn't happy that Millie has been out so late. The couple begins to argue, but just as Millie is about to walk away, their A.I. voice assistant Ada pipes in, offering assistance.
As a couples counselor, Ada has a few unorthodox techniques to help distressed couples communicate more effectively. After talking proves frustrating, Ada has Jamie and Millie try karaoke, singing out their feelings. From there, the spirit of song takes over, and Jamie and Millie find themselves inside a musical extravaganza -- one that helps them unravel the complex knot of emotions between them and find clarity.
Directed by Calvin Sang from a script co-written with Natasha Lay, this charming comedy-musical short begins in a quiet, unassuming way, capturing the irritable argument between a long-term couple in their home. From the worn-in, softly shadowy visuals to the sturdy, unflashy camerawork to the relatable yet flinty dialogue between Jamie and Millie, viewers might initially think they were in for a naturalistic romantic drama. The storytelling sets up the situation and characters quickly, with a sense of lived-in realism as Jamie and Millie wrangle over her late night out and his jealousy. They've had this argument before, and Millie is tired of it.
But as the tension between Jamie and Millie builds, the situation goes sideways when their home voice assistant Ada interjects, offering to help the pair resolve their differences and connect. This is the first hint that there's more to this unassuming short than meets the eye, adding a layer of wry, quirky Kiwi humor to the proceedings. As Ada's interventions become more outlandish, the narrative escalates into full-on whimsicality as Jamie and Millie find themselves in their own personal musical, complete with a big song-and-dance number about their feelings and desires.
Through it all, actors Sarah Nessia and Tyler Wilson-Kokiri never lose their emotional grounding as a couple at odds with one another, though they convey a long history between them and the flickers of a wary affection. They are baffled by the fact that they're acting out a musical, poking fun at the cheesiness of the genre. It's reminiscent of musicals like THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, where the form is transposed onto a more understated, quotidian situation, which gently makes fun of the genre's emotionality but also makes for fascinating emotional insight.
For Jamie and Millie, the musical's propensity for sincere big emotion reveals their respective emotional truths, including resentments that have built up over time. The musical of LOVE IS REAL doesn't crescendo into a blithe, extravagant ending, but a series of honest, fragile revelations that nevertheless transform the couple's relationship. We may not get the catharsis of joy that a musical promises (though we do get the best comedic cameo by a Roomba in a film.) But it's still emotionally resonant, and perhaps more relatable and moving to those of us not blessed with an Ada of our own.
A couple is reunited by an A.I. assistant.
LOVE IS REAL is used with permission from Calvin Sang. Learn more at https://calvinsang.com.
Millie has come home after a night out without her partner Jamie. Jamie, however, isn't happy that Millie has been out so late. The couple begins to argue, but just as Millie is about to walk away, their A.I. voice assistant Ada pipes in, offering assistance.
As a couples counselor, Ada has a few unorthodox techniques to help distressed couples communicate more effectively. After talking proves frustrating, Ada has Jamie and Millie try karaoke, singing out their feelings. From there, the spirit of song takes over, and Jamie and Millie find themselves inside a musical extravaganza -- one that helps them unravel the complex knot of emotions between them and find clarity.
Directed by Calvin Sang from a script co-written with Natasha Lay, this charming comedy-musical short begins in a quiet, unassuming way, capturing the irritable argument between a long-term couple in their home. From the worn-in, softly shadowy visuals to the sturdy, unflashy camerawork to the relatable yet flinty dialogue between Jamie and Millie, viewers might initially think they were in for a naturalistic romantic drama. The storytelling sets up the situation and characters quickly, with a sense of lived-in realism as Jamie and Millie wrangle over her late night out and his jealousy. They've had this argument before, and Millie is tired of it.
But as the tension between Jamie and Millie builds, the situation goes sideways when their home voice assistant Ada interjects, offering to help the pair resolve their differences and connect. This is the first hint that there's more to this unassuming short than meets the eye, adding a layer of wry, quirky Kiwi humor to the proceedings. As Ada's interventions become more outlandish, the narrative escalates into full-on whimsicality as Jamie and Millie find themselves in their own personal musical, complete with a big song-and-dance number about their feelings and desires.
Through it all, actors Sarah Nessia and Tyler Wilson-Kokiri never lose their emotional grounding as a couple at odds with one another, though they convey a long history between them and the flickers of a wary affection. They are baffled by the fact that they're acting out a musical, poking fun at the cheesiness of the genre. It's reminiscent of musicals like THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, where the form is transposed onto a more understated, quotidian situation, which gently makes fun of the genre's emotionality but also makes for fascinating emotional insight.
For Jamie and Millie, the musical's propensity for sincere big emotion reveals their respective emotional truths, including resentments that have built up over time. The musical of LOVE IS REAL doesn't crescendo into a blithe, extravagant ending, but a series of honest, fragile revelations that nevertheless transform the couple's relationship. We may not get the catharsis of joy that a musical promises (though we do get the best comedic cameo by a Roomba in a film.) But it's still emotionally resonant, and perhaps more relatable and moving to those of us not blessed with an Ada of our own.
