Lift You Up (CalArts Film 2022)

This makes me wonder if the robot understood the implications of what it was doing or why. Did it plan to make the human lonely and dependent? Did it understand that it was experiencing jealousy? Did it realize there was a permanece to it's actions? Something about the robot's mannerisms keeps switching between childlike and cold hard machine and it almost seems like it's unaware just how awful it's manipulations are. That or it's completely aware and it's just playing cute, hard to tell with robots, haha.

Oh my god… the ending. That lady’s whole world was literally destroyed. She spent basically her whole life with that robot. The rest of her life was ruined and wasted by her only living companion. That was so heartbreaking and so… AWESOME!! God, that hurt me so much but I love it!

I'm kind of angry having watched this, because I want more but I know this is just the perfect length for a story like this. I love it and you made something amazing!

I don’t really comment anymore, but I absolutely needed to say something about this. This was incredibly well done, showing how she accepts it, ages, moves on, and then suddenly everything falls apart. It’s filled with pain and love, not even to mention the animation of it all. I may have seen the twist coming, but I did not know it would hurt like this.

Amazing, but holy shit that ending. I honestly want to know how she reacted towards him in the end, to learn that someone who comforted her in her time of need and stood by her for YEARS was the cause of her misery. 😭

oh woow my heart really sunk in the end. That twist was perfectly paced. Such a good shortfilm! The voice actors did an amazing job, I connected instantly to the characters because of it. The world building is fantastic!! Have to watch it a couple of times to really see all the cool details. I love the animation style, the sketchyness and the balance between more rough and really flowy. This whole film has such a nice vibe, the music is perfect for it and the colors are so thought out. Big congrats!!

Someone linked this to me saying "I was expecting the robot to die and the lady be lonely. Or the Lady to die and the robot be lonely. But I was not expecting THAT" And they were right. I was not expecting THAT. So heartbreaking, so unexpected! I loved it!!

This is incredible! And the song compliments your film beautifully. The twist crushed me. Even knowing that there was a twist, I didn’t expect it. Or rather, I didn’t want to think of it.

The twist made me sad. Really cool. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, the feeling of dread in the beginning and then portrayed again twofold in the end is amazingly done

I literally screamed WOAH in the end!! Such a huge inspiration! Congrats on this beautiful film!

The robot didn’t want her to go home so he made sure there was no home to return too

That was so cool to watch! Both twists caught me completely by surprise! The animation was gorgeous and I loved the color palette that you used for it! Overall, everything about it was so cool and I am amazed by just how much you put into this and how you told a whole story in only this one animation!

i'm absolutely obsessed with the balance between the backgrounds and the characters. the intricate scenery and environments created such a nice balance with the simple-ness of the characters. i'm going to have to watch again because there's just so much detail in the film overall. also, the twist made my heart drop. i didn't know a 6-minute film could make me feel so much. incredible work!! 💛

omg I watched this a second time because holy shit the ending! And I just realized the robot's heart eyes when he looked at the woman and back at the man which was a clear hint!! Amazing work, I'm absolutely mind blown. I watch a lot of short films and this is by far one of my favorites, if not my favorite, I can't wait to see what you make in the future!

Oh nooo.. The ending was so unexpected I just sat in disbelief. This is beautiful, good job! Your hard work has paid off :D

Goosebumps the whole time! Really powerful!

Ran into this by accident. That was so God damn good! That's all I'm going to say without ruining it, for anyone else.

Funny story - my boyfriend knows I have a very tender spot for uplifting stories and films that revolve around a person losing their significant other (I empathize way too easily with that pain), so when I sent him this, he was especially surprised that the ending was so dark and heartbreaking. I told him how interesting it was that we have been programmed to believe that the cute little AI is equivalent to a sweet dog or something similarly adorable and harmless. I am an experienced writer who really knows how to spot the thought processes and ideas of the storytellers and the twist here really surprised me. I gotta stay on my toes! Great job. I've watched this many times and love it.

All that plot for 5 min and those twists are insane!!