Thousands of feet up hemmed in by hostiles tech CEO Thom is under threat. Faced with Raydon, an old school yard adversary and Milly his long-suffering girlfriend, fights are flaring up while relationships lay in ruins.
Penned by writer director Hooroo Jackson, Window Seat is billed as the first film completely created through artifical intelligence – meaning that every performance within this hour-long opus involves no actors.
From the black and white visuals, which are enriched with flashes of colour, through to a narrative that plays out primarily in close-up, Window Seat makes for an unusual viewing experience. One made even more unique since emotional connections, however abstract, remain conspicuously out of reach.
On a basic level Window Seat is a story of betrayal, retribution and remorse underpinned by social commentary, which explores the debate around cancel culture. Where multimedia platforms are used to express disapproval and instigate change through peer pressure.
That this central theme exists within the fabric of an entirely artifical film is not without its ironies, since cancel culture is in an inherently human construct. Meaning that the choice of AI as a medium is both an economical and intellectual decision from Hooroo Jackson.
However, Window Seat was never intended to simply be a showcase for this new technology, nor an advancement designed to indulge high minded agendas. This writer director set out to create a piece of entertainment, capable of engaging an audience and conveying emotion.
Unfortunately, that is where the limitations of artifical intelligence come into play, since human connection through an actor’s performance is essential if audiences are to be seduced by the medium. Which is why Window Seat comes unstuck at various points, as any emotional turmoil between tech CEO Thom, his girlfriend Milly and school yard bully Raydon is lost in translation.
There is no denying the sophisticated storytelling, nor those subtle segues into social obsession satirised through advertising. The central problem with Window Seat is similar to something Robert Zemeckis encountered with The Polar Express in 2004.
His film represented a leap forward in motion capture, which was instantly undermined and relentlessly ridiculed by an industry under threat. That those innovations led to the creation of blockbusters including Avatar and its billion-dollar sequel years later have been conveniently consigned to the history books.
This is the same problem facing Window Seat right now, as film makers potentially push back against another innovation, while early adopters argue for its inclusion alongside other mediums. A debate which will inevitably see some projects become collateral damage, until something akin to an artistic compromise can be reached.
That being said, this trailblazing effort guarantees Hooroo Jackson his own Window Seat for all those pioneering possibilities yet to come, as AI takes cinema by storm.
