I must admit the more I hear about AI and simulation data, it makes me worry.
The opening of Alberto Ortega’s short Denali discusses how strides are being made to create interactions between humans and simulations. You just get the feeling right off the bat that this isn’t going to yield the results desired.
We follow Noa, who hires one of the companies trying these experimentations, in the hope of finding out the secrets of her deceased father.
I’m a big fan of high-concept sci-fi but sometimes find it difficult to fully connect to the subject matter at hand. Here, Ortega has chosen the very relatable subjects of a daughter and her father but within an AI setting, which may or may not have its own agenda.
At times Denali is brutal, with its conversation format cutting deeper than any explicit assault ever could as Noa and her ‘father’ go hammer and tong about their failed relationship.
Extremely well-written and beautifully shot, Denali is a fantastic and engrossing watch.
Denali screens as part of Cabane A Sang Film Festival 2023.
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