
Hirokazu Koreeda, a celebrated Japanese director known for his subtle and moving films, presents Sheep in the Box. The story is set in the near future and follows a grieving couple who choose to rent a robotic replica of their son, who passed away two years prior. Otone Komoto, an architect, and her husband Kensuke, a woodworker, haven’t truly processed their grief, instead focusing on work and maintaining a facade of normalcy. They receive an advertisement from a company called REbirth – which, somewhat insensitively, was also present at their son’s funeral – and Otone, feeling particularly vulnerable, agrees to learn more. REbirth creates incredibly realistic androids, called “humanoids,” designed to resemble deceased loved ones, powered by artificial intelligence trained on photos and videos.