A young woman and her A.I. mom investigate the disappearance of the real mother.


LIKENESS is used with permission from David A. Flores. Learn more at https://davidfloreswrites.com.


Kaitlyn is desperate. Some time ago, her mother Fiona disappeared, leaving Kaitlyn stranded in an emotional limbo of grief and anxiety. Fiona's case has gone cold, and in an attempt to revive it and figure out the mystery of her mom's disappearance, she begins interacting with an A.I. that looks, sounds and acts just like Fiona.

Using the A.I. avatar of her mother makes Kaitlyn uncomfortable and hostile; it reminds her of her real mother's irreplaceable absence in her life. But as she and her A.I. mother work together, she discovers a fuller picture of the real Fiona as the relationship with her A.I. one changes.

Directed and written by David A. Flores, this thoughtful, well-crafted short sci-fi drama blends a fascinating exploration of how we relate to A.I. and its possibilities with a powerful portrait of a young woman grappling with grief amidst a traumatic loss in her life. Conceptually ambitious and emotionally compelling, the narrative is structured as a mystery, following Kaitlyn as she attempts to unravel her mother's ultimate fate. But in doing so, it becomes a journey into someone coming to terms with the loss of a parent in more than one way.

Alternating between the bright sheen of Kaitlyn's video conferences with her A.I. mother and the more muted, almost drab naturalism of Kaitlyn's non-screen life, the excellent writing is initially propelled by the question of Fiona's disappearance. But as she uses Fiona's A.I. substitute to trace the breadcrumbs of Fiona's last known whereabouts, we also become immersed in the question of Kaitlyn's changing relationship with the A.I. itself, as well as the emerging picture of her mother in real life.

Kaitlyn initially hates the A.I. version of her mother, who seems like a pleasant but shallower version of the mother we see in the traces of her social media. As Kailyn, actor Mary Rose Branick deftly hints at the woundedness and sadness that fuel her hostility to the A.I. version of her mother, one that grows more complex as she unearths more information about Fiona that changes her emotions and understanding. In both versions of Fiona, actor Virginia Newcomb offers believable variations of the same character, one more blandly warm and maternal, the other complex and more believably flawed. As the portrait of the real Fiona and the relationship between Kaitlyn and the A.I. develop and complicate, a fascinating set of questions emerge: how far is the distance between the versions of her mother, just who Fiona really is and perhaps who ends up as the "better" mother.

What's fascinating about LIKENESS is how its A.I. character's growth becomes the axis of the most thought-provoking aspects of the film, as the digital avatar learns to step into the role of mother and give her daughter what she needs emotionally. Kaitlyn goes through what many children do as they truly leave childhood: they confront how flawed and human their parents are. And yet they never stop needing a parent's love and comfort -- even if it comes from a source they'd never expect.