SHEEP IN THE BOX

(director/writer: Hirokazu Koreeda; cinematographer: Ryuto Kondo; editor: Hirokazu Kore-eda; music: Yuta Bandoh; cast: Haruka Ayase (Otone Komoto), Daigo Yamamoto (Kansuke Komoto), Rimu Kuwaki (Kakeru), Nana Seino (Alice Kotaki), Kanichiro Sato (Gen. Hidaka), Hinata Hiiragi (Takuto Konno), Kayo Noro (Kasumi Hano); Runtime: 126; MPAA Rating: PG; producers: Kaoru Katsuzaki, Megumi Banse; Neon; 2026-Japan-in Japanese)

“A strange and puzzling futuristic sci-fi tale about AI children that doesn’t work.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda (“Monster”/”Broker”) writes and directs a strange and puzzling futuristic sci-fi tale about AI children that doesn’t work.

The 7-year-old son of the architect Otone (Haruka Ayase) and her carpenter husband Kensuke (Daigo Yamamoto), died two years ago in a hit-and-run incident and the driver has not been found. The couple receive a promotional ad from a creepy company named REbirth, who will create an AI humanoid modeled after their son Kakeru (Rimu Kuwaki) and will do it for free because he died as a result of a crime. The parents accept, even if Kensuke has his doubts.

A series of undeveloped story-lines occur, as the film never gets a grip on what it’s trying to say about robot children. By the time the film ends the muddled story still remains baffling and not satisfying. It seemingly has nothing clear to say about having robots for children, even though that was what the story was supposed to be about. This film was out of Koreeda’s wheel-house and he was clueless on how to handle it.

The 2021 Swan Song by Benjamin Cleary covers the same ground and does it better.

It played at the Cannes Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 7/25/2026  GRADE: C
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