Let Me Assist You
After an absolutely devastating breakup, a man’s AI virtual assistant tries to take over as his fitness and wellness coach.
Interview with Editor/Writer/Director Noam Argov
Watch Let Me Assist You here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
In my early 20s, I was going through a break-up and living alone in a studio apartment in San Francisco. In my sadness there were a few days I didn’t leave my apartment at all (not good, I know), and since I didn’t have a dog, I found myself talking to Siri (A LOT) about my ex. I found she was a very good listener and I was surprised by how comforting this was in my hour of need. Little did I know that our little friendship would soon become a universal pattern for many in the last few years of the pandemic. With quarantine and the boom in home virtual assistants, many of us spent many hours locked in our homes with our Siris, Google Homes, Alexas and whoever else.
They became members of the family, allies, enemies, annoying siblings, confidants. I even remember a TikTok video of a small child crying because Google Home didn’t know her name. So the fascination and the inkling for this movie has been growing within me, and perhaps within all of us, for quite some time now. As I started imagining "what if," I knew the only way to go down the rabbit hole was to write a script and see where it would take me.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
To me, the film is a fun little mirror to our relationship with the technology we've created. It's fun to personify that relationship into some of the things that make human relationships hard: independence vs interdependency, for example. I often think the best laughter comes when we can laugh at ourselves, and I love poking fun at the health-tech craze and all of these apps we now have to make us the best and healthiest humans. It's especially fun to watch a flawed character (who messed up) go through this journey because he's such a fun specimen for the ideals of tech utopianism. At the end of the day, I just hope the film makes you laugh and feel something.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Having worked in tech in Silicon Valley, I'm fascinated by how tech entrepreneurs build technology in their own image and specifically shape it around their own values: optimization, efficiency, endless joy to the humans. AI is here to assist and improve us. But what happens when this self optimization bumps up against the awkwardness that makes us human? In this film I wanted to look at the sheer messiness, rawness and “inefficiency” of being a person: being sad, going through a breakup, messing up in a big way. And I wanted to hold that up against the way AI is programmed to make us happier, faster, better. I started seeing a funny push and pull on both sides - a person struggling to meet the values AI tells him are aspirational and AI struggling to bridge the uncanny valley and relate to him. What I ultimately found is the most hilarious, beautiful, twisted, toxic love story of our generation: Humans and our technology. Or perhaps I should say, “technology and its humans.”
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The idea for the film was something I had been sitting on for a while during 2020. However, the biggest push to make it came when the Covid safety guidelines for set became more strict and I was trying to think of a film I could safely make during surges in the pandemic. I thought a breakup, AI movie would be perfect. No one would ever have to be too close. The script came out of me pretty quickly one evening and stayed close to its original form throughout the process, which I admit is rare. The hardest thing to land was making sure Athena (the AI) was relentless but also convincing in equal measure. A lot of that came from getting really specific about who the characters are. My actors were invaluable with that in the rehearsal process and a lot of that character subjectivity was something we found together.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People laugh! Which is great. Comedy is lovely that way because you instantly know what the audience thinks and if something is working. Otherwise, most people have said they look at their virtual assistants differently after watching the film. Which is also lovely to hear. I also often hear people say they feel bad for Jason in spite of themselves.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I always hoped Athena would haunt people after the film is over and it's fun to hear that this is really happening! In terms of surprising feedback, I wasn't expecting people to have this love-hate relationship with Jason and I've loved to hear people say how they feel a tenderness for him in the end (even if they didn't want to). It's very fulfilling to be able to create a character like that, and it's something I will keep striving for in my work. I love stories about flawed characters who are navigating these emotionally confusing situations, and it's exciting to hear that audiences are responding to that too.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I hope more people watch the film and get something out of it! That's why we do what we do.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We are now looking for distribution and our online home. Of course screening at more fests would also be lovely.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope people have as much fun watching it as we had making it. And I do hope it makes people have new thoughts about their devices and go into that "what if" place next time they interact with their virtual assistants. For all of our desires to use technology to be "better humans," I hope this film shows that sometimes being human is just messy and that's fine too.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What does it look like to be a "good human" and how is AI bringing us closer or farther away from that?
More specifically to the film (SPOILER ALERT): Is Jason entering a new co-dependent toxic relationship with Athena or has she helped him grow (or both)?
Would you like to add anything else?
I really loved working with my actors in this process. Shout out to Dan Shaked, Ana Maria Jomolca and Montana Lampert Hoover. It was a blast to work with each of them and I would recommend them a million times over.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Right now I am in post on something very different. This is another narrative short that I wrote and directed. It is a family drama centered on the love-hate relationship between a first-generation, immigrant, teenage girl and her mother, who speaks no english. We'll release it in 2023. I love experimenting with different genres and styles in my work and I'm excited to do a drama.
Interview: March 2022
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Let Me Assist You
Length:
8:30
Writer/Director
NOAM ARGOV is an Israeli-American filmmaker, National Geographic Explorer, and MFA Directing student in the Graduate Film Program at NYU Tisch. Growing up between the Middle East and Orlando, Florida, Noam spent much of her childhood walking around barefoot and dreaming up strange stories. More recently, Noam spent the last few years directing and producing documentaries, and is now writing, directing and shooting narrative projects at Tisch. She is active in organizations that elevate womxn in film.
Producer
Zach Busch & Noam Argov
Key cast:
Dan Shaked, Ana Maria Jomolca, Montana Lampert Hoover
Looking for:
distributors, film festivals
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/noam.argov.7
Instagram:
Hashtags used:
#letmeassistyou
More info:
https://noamargov.com/let-me-assist-you
Where can I watch it?
Cinemafemme Film Festival - Filmocracy.com - April 2022
New York City Independent Film Festival - New York, NY - June 2022
Austin Comedy Film Festival - Austin, TX - July 2022