Contemporary sci-fi tends toward the dystopian, so there¡¯s something almost refreshing about the vision of the future offered by Hirokazu Kore-eda¡¯s latest film. ¡°Sheep in the Box¡± poses a question few of us have thought to ask: What if the world of tomorrow wasn¡¯t bleak, just kind of boring?

This soft-focus android drama, which screened in the main competition section at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month, is a rare misfire from the director, who won a Palme d¡¯Or for his 2018 film ¡°Shoplifters.¡± AI was one of the dominant topics at this year¡¯s Cannes (which now counts Meta as a sponsor), but Kore-eda¡¯s contribution to the discourse is strangely inconsequential. It¡¯s as if this veteran observer of the human condition has gazed into the heart of the machine and found himself with nothing to say.