Intermission: Spielberg pays homage to Kubrick with 'A.I.'

|quot|A.I. Artificial Intelligence|quot|

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, William Hurt

Rated: PG-13

There's no doubt that Steven Spielberg is one of the most accomplished directors in film history. The money earned from his films is larger than the gross national product of almost any given country on Earth. He's a genius to be sure.

But some things really bother me about his style. He's always been just a little too slick, too crafty. While I appreciate the technical craft, his films, for me, have been less than engaging.

With his latest work, |quot|A.I. Artificial Intelligence,|quot| all that has changed. The film pays homage to the late Stanley Kubrick, who was attached to the project for many years, and Spielberg manages to cop the master's style quite effectively. |quot|A.I.|quot| is one of the most eerily haunting films to come along since Kubrick's own final effort |quot|Eyes Wide Shut.|quot|

That Spielberg manages to cover Kubrick's style so effectively speaks highly of his talents, not only as a director but as a student and fan of film. Some may argue the point (|quot|E.T.,|quot| and |quot|Close Encounters of the Third Kind|quot| come to mind) but I think |quot|A.I.|quot| is Spielberg's finest work to date. This may be due to the fact that I admire Kubrick's films so much and this piece could easily be a part of his body of work.

The film is based on Brian Aldiss' 1969 short story, |quot|Supertoys Last All Summer Long.|quot| Kubrick's classic adaptation of Arthur Clarke's |quot|2001: A Space Odyssey|quot| had just been released, and |quot|A.I.|quot| has a lot of similar elements, and the same |quot|feel|quot| of 1960s' science fiction. So many things have changed since then that we can honestly say |quot|the future isn't what it used to be.|quot|

Computers, and the idea of artificial intelligence, were fairly new at the time, and Aldiss' story raised a lot of philosophical questions about the nature of existence. I'm not sure |quot|A.I.|quot| answers any of these, but it does provide a lot of thought-provoking material.

Haley Joel Osment, forever to be known as the |quot|I see dead people|quot| kid, stars as David, the young android programmed to love the parents he's sold to. Osment is a fine actor and pulls off this difficult role very well.

In the world of the future at least the future proposed in this piece global warming has destroyed the major coastal cities, but the United States is intact. Androids, or |quot|mechas,|quot| help with everything from household chores to being gigolos. The latest idea, proposed by Professor Hobby (William Hurt), is a mecha that can love.

He does so, and the first customers are Monica and Henry Swinton, a couple whose human son has been cryogenically frozen because of medical problems.

David has been programmed to learn from, and love, the people who |quot|imprint|quot| his chip. While Monica is at first reluctant, she eventually does the imprint and David is entirely devoted. All seems well until the Swintons' son is returned. This is an entirely new kind of sibling rivalry, when one of the siblings is a mere machine.

Since he's been imprinted, David can't be given to anyone else. His fate, when the Swintons decide to return him, is destruction. Henry believes a mecha can't really feel, and he has no problem with David's fate. But Monica has bonded with David so she releases him in the woods to fend for himself.

Spielberg dedicated the film to Kubrick, who had it in the works for 15 years. I'm sure he would be proud of the way it turned out.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)