One of the summer’s most peculiar highlights comes from A24 and Apple TV+ with Sunny, a new series about grief masquerading as an ironic sci-fi mystery and a wicked Kawaī comedy that often times shows graphic murder. The show is not quite what it looks like, kicking off with a woman who has lost her husband and son in a deadly plane crash. She then receives a “domestic robot” named Sunny, voiced by Joanna Sotomura, who keeps her cheery and hopeful despite being clearly down on her luck.
Rashida Jones plays Suzie, an American living in Kyoto, Japan, who is devastated by the loss of her family. At face value, Sunny looks like a conventional sappy pet movie filled with emotional moments; however, the series has more significant plans as Suzie’s husband’s death is in dispute. Is Masa, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima, who she thought he was? As Suzie and Sunny begin investigating, it leads them down a twisted plot filled with murky underworld robot contests, gang murders, corporate conspiracies, and dark web hackers.
As Sunny and Suzie’s investigation unfolds, the show’s sci-fi elements take a backseat, and the showrunners feature more eccentric strands that are far more zany than the casual robot-bonding. Other characters in the show include a cybercriminal with a detachable finger named You, a pesky and probably lethal mother-in-law played by iconic actress Judy Ongg, and a cheerful bartender whose star-making turn by comedian-singer, Annie the Clumsy.
Sunny’s portrayal of a future-set Japanese underworld is reminiscent of recent shows such as Severance and Maniac, but the show never becomes too far-flung to categorize. Sunny’s and other robots’ design that occasionally appears in the background amid the mystery-solving is legitimate, and Sotomura imbues the robotic character with enough personality to make it realistic. Nevertheless, the show’s focal point remains Rashida Jones. Her sharp, deadpan portrayal envelops all the disparate elements together, giving the show a grounded and heartfelt ambience, balanced to prevent it from unwinding at the seams.
Sunny is the type of show that could have gone off the rails quickly. It throws everything at viewers and waits to see what sticks, using offbeat and goofy robot quips to undercut the heavy emotions, resulting in an unsteady state in the best way possible. Shows of this caliber that are ambitious, weird, and funny, need to be appreciated as much as Sunny. The show begins streaming on Apple TV+ from July 10
Read the full article on NME here: Read More