Navigate to Arts & Letters section

No. 28: A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Spielberg’s darkest

by
Jody Rosen
December 07, 2011
(Imdb.com)
(Imdb.com)

2001, dir. Steven Spielberg. This 2001 epic about an android programmed to love its human owners—from a script handed off to Spielberg by the late Stanley Kubrick—blends dystopian sci-fi with old-fashioned Jewish mommy issues. The result: Spielberg’s darkest, most courageously kooky film, full of technically breathtaking set-pieces, with an ending that wowed some filmgoers, infuriated others, and mystified just about everyone.

Jody Rosen is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.