Rachels Don't Run
2021 · 15m · USA
Directed by Joanny Causse
Genres: drama, romance, sci-fi
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
While monitoring late-night calls at an AI companionship service, lonely customer support agent Leah impersonates an artificial dream girl to chat with the regular caller for whom she's developed feelings.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Single actor doing both ends of an AI phone call is a clever conceit, but the premise is basically Her with the serial numbers filed off and a SOTW bow. I'll grant it the craft and move on.
A single-performer two-hander conducted through phone lines is a formal gesture borrowed from Steven Knight's Locke, here turned toward Spike Jonze's Her territory; the constraint sharpens the loneliness rather than gimmicking it. The sci-fi premise yields to the character study, which is the correct hierarchy.
A 14:45 sci-fi anchored on Sera Barbieri performing both sides of a phone seduction is a hell of a one-actor showcase — and the AI-companionship premise lets the writing breathe instead of cosplaying Black Mirror. Comparisons to Her are doing some work here, but the structural conceit is its own thing.
Reviews
A film that might have once simply qualified as sci-fi. However, what truly sets it apart is its potent emotional depth and how it explores loneliness and grief.
Holding it all together is a heartbreaking performance by Barbieri.
Festivals
- Fantasia International Film Festival 2021, Best Screenplay
- Seattle International Film Festival 2022, Grand Jury Prize - Best Short Film
- Interfilm Berlin International Short Film Festival 2022
- Go Short International Short Film Festival
- North Bend Film Festival, Best Director
- Lake Stevens Film Festival, Best Short