27/11/2025 - Basque director Alberto Gastesi tackles AI beyond the uncanny valley in his second feature, starring Patricia López Arnaiz

The uncanny valley effect has consistently preoccupied the public imagination in genre film – think Terminator, where something feels slightly off about those robots – and in real-life applications of robotics. Yet today, we’re beginning to move into an era where generative artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly impossible to distinguish from human intelligence or human-created products – whether it be imagery, videos or text.

Basque director Alberto Gastesi, who showed his debut feature, Stillness in the Storm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Gastesi
film profile], in 2023, returns with Singular [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a grounded, Black Mirror-esque science-fiction thriller that plays with this idea in the form of humanoid robots that are indistinguishable from humans. Featuring a screenplay by Gastesi and Stillness in the Storm co-writer Alex Merino, Singular world-premiered in the Official Fantastic Competition of this year’s Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival and is being released in Spain on 28 November by Warner Bros Pictures.

Singular features Patricia López Arnaiz – the star of Sundays [+see also:
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interview: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
film profile], this year’s Golden Shell winner at San Sebastián, as well as of the 2024 San Sebastián competition entry Glimmers [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Pilar Palomero
film profile], for which she won the Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance – as Diana, a professor of AI working on developing her own AI humanoid. Separated from her husband Martín (Javier Rey) after the death of their son, they reunite after 12 years when he proposes a visit to their old lake house to honour their late son for what would have been his 18th birthday – only to encounter a young man named Andrea (Miguel Iriarte), who eerily seems to be a grown version of their deceased child.

It's nothing new to see the AI concept on screen; the title is also a nod to the technological singularity, a hypothetical moment in time where AI surpasses human intelligence and potentially leads to human extinction. Gastesi looks to approach the topic from the perspective of the human inability to deal with mortality and its empathetic effects on our behaviour, rather than creating a story about human domination over robots or, vice versa, an AI revolt against humans. However, AI-centric stories, including Singular, frequently preclude any imagination of peaceful coexistence and lack of conflict, precisely because of the threat posed by the singularity.

The premise of Singular starts off extremely strong, provoking us into having a sense of curiosity around who Andrea really is and leading to a curious twist, supported by directing choices and blocking that aim to gently obscure the boundaries of truth before we gain the full picture. However, after this crucial moment, the screenplay struggles to escalate further in tension, never managing to break the static nature of its intentionally circular story. We are thus stuck in this loop with our characters without learning more about them, causing the second half of the movie to drag through to the end in spite of its efforts to use philosophising to fill the gaps.

Singular is a co-production by Spain’s White Leaf Producciones and Vidania Films, and Finland’s 61 North.