This Australian indie flick appears to have seriously polarized viewers, which I suppose is understandable, given the minimal amount of either action or character development. Nonetheless, it held its own for me as a cerebral, humanist sci-fi—almost a pee-wee cousin to "Ex Machina"—and for its best parts, which were a substantial portion of its runtime, made it a much better movie than it deserved to be.
A nebbishy and perhaps socially maladapted outcast, with (we finally see halfway through the movie) an obvious physical deformity, buys a stereotypically gorgeous, Barbie-doll-like sex robot, played by an Danish actress of the type only Scandinavia seems to produce. Half the movie is a quiet exploration of his uneasy relationship with her, and for me, this is the best part. Eventually his ne'er-do-well hypermasculine brother shows up for an unannounced visit, and initially doesn't realize she's a robot, and sexual tension builds, despite the revelation early in the movie that she can't have sex with anyone else. The rest of the movie is watching that tension unravel.
The movie is small, quiet, and has a low-key, almost Dogme95-like production esthetic. It's no wonder to me that it only has a 4-odd stars on IMDB... there's nothing at all here for people raised on blockbusters.
The sole reason I don't give it an honorable mention, and this feels almost petty because it's such a minor detail, is the very end, I mean, the last two minutes. It kind of wimps out, and then further, tacks on one final short scene, I mean maybe 30 seconds, that just plain appears like it's supposed to mean something, but doesn't. Had it ended with the same quiet, low-key strength it showed throughout, honorable mention for sure.
This is the movie I added the "worth another watch" category for.
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