Earlier today, indie distributor A24 offered a first glimpse of a mysterious, untitled sci-fi project. Or, at least, I think they did. It’s either that or a Calvin Klein perfume commercial from an alternate Rick and Morty-esque dimension. Check it out below!
Silly text aside, it elegant, slick, and instantly familiar to fans of Black Mirror. But what the heck is going on? We see a man and a woman interacting with several futuristic devices. One of these devices is a pod with a shiny domed top, but another gadget offers a more substantial clue.
This glassy tablet shows us some text in Japanese. And thanks to the talents of Fan Contributor R.W.V. Mitchell, we now have some idea of what it says. The first two lines translate approximately to “Artificial Nervous System Disconnect Consent Contract.” The rest is mostly boilerplate legal and medical jargon. Then, there’s a date at the bottom: March 20, 2076. Then, we see two finger prints — a signing of the form.
Now, this is all speculation, but I’m willing to bet that this is the key to the story here. A woman and a man in 2076 spend some time with an electronic pod, which is large enough to contain a human being. Another man at a desk shows them a holographic image. The man and the woman sign an electronic consent form that seems to allow for the disconnection of an artificial nervous system. The trailer intercuts this story with imagery of a teenage boy. The boy may in fact be a separate story, but what if it’s the dream of a dying child whose nervous system is alive inside that electronic pod?
I feel like we’re getting close here, but we won’t know until A24 announces what this is. I know this teaser isn’t much to go on, but A24 has an excellent reputation when it comes to genre film. They distributed the brilliant Ex Machina and the chilling Under the Skin. When can we expect to see this mysterious new project? “In our near future,” says the video description. How tantalizingly vague!