I'm Here (2010)

I'm Here starts out a story of Sheldon(Andrew Garfield), a bashful and forlorn robot hoping to find a connection in an existence of monotonous routine and quiet despair in present day LA. His days consist of riding the bus, working as a library's assistant and coming home to a dark and nearly empty apartment. His longing for something else, something more, brings the viewer into this short with ease and forms an understanding of Sheldon through his loneliness. Soon he meets the unpredictable and flirtatious Annie(Sienna Guilorry) and the story of falling in love unveils itself through realistic courting situations. As realistic as love between robots can feel that is.


Spike Jonze has made a movie that is tied together with his most recent feature, Where The Wild Things Are. The most prevalent themes shared being loneliness and heartache. Aesthetically they share characters made up of special effects in naturalistic settings that blend and make for believable worlds. He's also taken these special effects driven characters and given them human feelings and emotions. This is conveyed through effects that display the same tone and emotionality in their face that the characters show through their voices. While Where The Wild Things Are was a passion project that took years to make, I'm Here seems to be a deeply personal film that had to be purged from his being. That's not to say that it seems a rushed affair, quite the contrary.


There's a bittersweet tinge throughout the proceedings as if we're seeing this through the lens of memory. While the two seem a good fit, one can't help but stop to think that the relationship is a bit one sided and how when one person makes all the sacrifices it often makes for a path towards heartache. This heartache is felt through the whole film and the atmosphere created by it. Despite this, it's still touching and romantic in a non-sentimental fashion. It doesn't hurt that at the epicenter is the exciting newcomer Andrew Garfield. Your heart aches along with him and his awkward, sweet and giving nature through the way he delivers his lines with such emotion. He'll be an actor to keep a watch for, especially after his turns in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and The Red Riding Trilogy as well.


I'm Here is a film that will surely resonate for those that have been in this type of relationship or have been in a lonesome routine based malaise. It fits well in the progression of Spike Jonze's filmography. It'll be exciting where he takes it from here and whether he'll continue to tackle these themes. He has stripped these robots down to their component parts and revealed a pulsating heart as authentic and sincere as anything you may see all year at the movies.