Companion (in theaters)

Is your relationship as idyllic as you think it is? If not, what do you do about it?

Those are some of the questions brought up by “Companion,” an entertaining, bloody twist on the classic sexbot story. The movie shifts the main POV to the sexbot herself, who is convinced that she’s experiencing a normal, happy relationship with her human boyfriend. The horror doesn’t come from some sort of glitch or robot uprising, but from the very human realization that you’ve been lied to and manipulated. Instead of the enemy, the android becomes the girl you root for.

Yes, even when she starts killing people.

Sophie Thatcher is fantastic as Iris, the robot companion that doesn’t know she’s being manipulated. The actress makes the character’s Stepford sweetness feel genuine, enough that we really feel her hurt when that starts to crack. When she starts taking revenge, it feels surprisingly justified.

Jack Quaid is also excellent as Josh, Iris’s boyfriend who’s been rewriting her memories whenever he finds her inconvenient. Quaid has always been an incredibly charming performer, portraying the kind of characters you instinctively want to trust, but he’s also good at twisting that. The charm becomes a weapon, edged with darkness, and the loving boyfriend slowly reveals himself to be something else entirely.

The second half of the movie transforms as well, turning from relationship horror to a survival chase through the woods. It’s exciting enough to get the blood pumping, especially with a nice sprinkling of humor from Harvey Guillén and his himbo boyfriend Lukas Gage.

All together, it makes horror into something surprisingly fun.

Grade: Three stars

We Live in Time (Max)

When two charismatic performers with a ton of chemistry pretend to fall in love, it’s easy to keep watching.

That’s the secret to “We Live in Time,” a chronology-jumping romance that gently sidesteps its own inherent tragedy. Though the structure doesn’t do the movie any favors, the connection between Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield crackles enough to carry the audience along. The two are also good enough actors to imbue their characters with depth and nuance, something the script jumps around too much to be able to properly do. They’re a delight to watch, even when the lack of traditional story buildup does them no favors.

The movie starts with Pugh and Garfield married with a toddler, their life forever altered by the return of Pugh’s cancer. The next scene jumps to their first meeting, where she accidentally hits him with her car moments after his divorce is finalized. The rest of the movie hops back and forth along their next several years together, including fights about Pugh’s dedication to her career as a chef.

There are a handful of truly spectacular scenes, particularly a hilarious, heartfelt birthing sequence. But even the best moments are never allowed to build to anything, not even the tearful finale audiences have come to expect from this type of movie. All we have are snapshots.

Still, Pugh and Garfield make some deeply engaging snapshots. Pugh deftly handles all her character’s layers and revelations, while Garfield is soulful and sweet but still imperfect. They’re flawed people in a flawed movie, but the chance to watch their love makes it worth the experience.

Grade: Two and a half stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Utah Film Critics Association. Find her on Twitter at @wardellwriter or drop her a line at [email protected].