Story
Delivery man Ray (Dean Imperial) is wary of new quantum technologies and vows never to allow anything high tech into his house. Ray’s younger brother, Jamie (Babe Howard), has an illness called Omnia, which is steadily getting worse. Ray must find a way to pay for the expensive medical treatments his brother needs. So despite his aversion to quantum technology, Ray signs up to be a cabler with a company called CABLR. His job is rolling out cables into the wilderness, connecting quantum cubes to each other.
On his first cabling run, Ray discovers that he has been given a previously owned medallion, which serves as an identification device. He thinks nothing of it until he realises that he has thousands of points in unclaimed credit and is automatically offered a job that will pay $105 000, something that would normally take years. While trying to figure out how the job works, Ray starts to realise that not everything is as it seems. In fact, his medallion belonged to the man who originally wrote the code for the robotic cablers – little machines that race against their human counterparts, trying to put them out of jobs.
Ray finds himself in the middle of a corporate conspiracy. He doesn’t realise that he alone can stop the robotic cablers and make corporate companies listen to the needs of the employees they are exploiting.
Themes
Conspiracy theories; serious illness; the power of machines over people; corporate exploitation
Violence
Lapsis has some violence. For example:
- Another cabler attacks Ray after finding out that Ray is using someone else’s medallion. They shove each other back and forth. The same man later kicks Ray in the leg.
- Ray attacks a robotic cabler with a rock and buries its parts in a shallow grave.
Sexual references
There are no sexual references in Lapsis.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Lapsis shows some use of substances. For example, James is urged to take some medicines. These medicines might make him feel strange, but they should also help him if he keeps taking them.
Nudity and sexual activity
Lapsis has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, Ray sleeps shirtless in his sleeping bag, and his bare chest is shown as he gets up one morning.
Product placement
There’s no product placement in Lapsis.
Coarse language
Lapsis has some coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Lapsis is a low-budget, science fiction drama. The characters are well developed and the acting is skilful. But the plot is a bit confusing at times, and there are many loose ends left at the end.
Lapsis isn’t suitable for children under 10 years, and it might lack interest for children under 13 years, But it’s likely to be enjoyed by mature audiences and sci-fi enthusiasts.
The main message from this movie is that human rights are more important than corporate greed.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include persistence, compassion, ingenuity, helpfulness and solidarity.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:
- blindly believing people who are trying to sell you something
- trusting large corporations and believing they have the best intentions towards their employees
- wandering into the wilderness without really knowing where you’re going or what you’re doing
- believing all technology is evil
- being too forthcoming with strangers and concealing the truth from people who are trying to help you
- replacing people with machines.