Perhaps one of the most sobering and isolating feelings can be the seeking of someone to end that isolation with–that is, the search for love. Will Kindrick’s Storm is a lightning-fast look at what love is and why this most human emotion can never quite be replicated by simulation or algorithm.
Storm looks at a world in which love has been completely quantified and all the mystery removed. After implementing an algorithm to determine compatibility between individuals, the United States Department of Social Health has mandated that all singles couple up with companions chosen for their peak compatibility according to an AI algorithm. Should the algorithm not be able to find a perfect match, single living communes have been organized to facilitate a life in which singles can thrive.
As the film begins we meet Blake (John Bubniak), sitting alone in his bathtub scrolling through a tablet checking for matches on his government-mandated app. As Blake watches his nightly love compatibility reports generate in real-time he is rejected over and over by the system’s algorithm reporting incompatibility over and over again. A freak lightning strike short-circuits the tablet and sends Blake reeling through various locations and situations, hopefully heading toward a possible end in which he finds love and compatibility.
While Storm feels at times like it borrows from Spike Jonze stylistically (and arguably thematically), the film doesn’t feel derivative in itself. If anything, it borrows the best parts of Jonze: the film feels alive, full of heart and has something to say. In fact, Blake’s relationship with technology and the world in which he finds himself feels like something that wouldn’t necessarily be out of place in the world of something like Jonze’s Her. Both films view technology and love as intertwined, with technology being the vehicle that facilitates love’s opportunities.
Storm adeptly balances the melancholy of loneliness with the rush of finding love, sometimes in the most unlikely of places. Even with the film’s minimalist dialogue, Bubniak’s portrayal of Blake creates a character that almost anyone can relate to — a human being looking for love in promised places, yet never quite at the point of complete compatibility.
While the short film only runs about 11 minutes, it feels complete and tells a story that is worth telling while asking the question: is love something that can be determined by numbers and equations? Or is love the result of completely random instances that put us in an exact place at an exact time? And if love is random and imperfect, is that imperfection worth pursuing?
Storm has much to say about love, particularly love in the digital dating age. With the sheer amount of dating apps currently available in any given app store, it seems that the places to look for love and remove the randomness are endless. But with the landscape of dating changing, Storm’s point stands firm: love is about the journey almost as much as it is about the destination.
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