"Companion" is Programmed to Resist the Patriarchy
Companion follows Iris, a robot who is entirely unaware of her inhumanity. Her boyfriend, Josh, views her as a device synced to his phone that is designed to serve him physically and support him emotionally. When Iris realizes that she is a robotic companion, not a human girlfriend, all hell breaks loose. The flim debuted in January of this year, marketed as a horror/sci-fi movie. This genre categorization makes sense, considering the plot of a robot taking vengeance on her human owner. But most reviews of the film focus on the intersection of technology and humanity, rather than the toxic romantic dynamic between Iris and Josh. New York Times and Hilltop both discuss the film’s technophobia. Vulture mentions that Josh “ably embodies a type of character who’s shaping up to be a recurring villain in 2025 — the savage softboy, who acts sensitive, and says all the right things, and turns out to be harboring all sorts of resentments ready to bubble over into acts of brutality.” But the...
