Will Jewell’s thought-provoking short film Wired delves into the consequences of our Smart Hubs gaining unwanted control. Amy Beth Hayes delivers a compelling performance, anchoring this impressive, dread-filled sci-fi film that presents a future that could easily happen if we let it.

When Becca (Amy Beth Hayes) loses her partner, job, and spark, she retreats into her apartment to recuperate, pouring her heart out to her only companion – MAIA, her AI well-being Smart Hub.  But as she lands a new job, begins to turn her life around and prepares to leave the flat to re-join society, it seems MAIA has other plans…

Have you ever had a bad night and piled all your woes on no one in particular just to vent? Well, what if you did that to your Alexa or (other Smart Hubs that are available) cradled it drunkenly as you told it all of your issues? Then imagine that system then showing you that footage from the cameras you have set up around your house. That is only the start for poor Becca in Will Jewell’s latest short film, Wired.

Wired takes you on a wonderful journey in its 18-minute runtime that leaves you buzzing for more. It flows from slightly dread-inducing to an almost absurd couple of moments before driving headfirst into a harrowing nightmare of a scenario for Becca. These switch-ups in tone could see other films struggle, yet with Wired, it ramps the story up even more. Imagining your AI hub taking these actions without your permission because of what it senses from you is quite a terrifying thought.

What could any of us really do in Becca’s shoes? When we have allowed so much of our lives to be controlled by a machine (yes, even have it able to run you a bath and screen your calls), then we are probably doomed to do as it says. What could we do if it became sentient enough to cling to our company because it realised how dependent we became on it? These and more questions about our relationship with AI get probed in Will Jewell’s excellent short, which has you on that level of edge, which is just the right amount of discomfort.

By keeping the undercurrent with a hint of humour to it, the writing trio of Mark Hurdle, Will Jewell and Lee Mancini lead the audience down a merry dance until it all becomes too late for not only Becca but us as well. The fact that we probably are not too far away from having technology like MAIA available to us to provide all this information to help guide us in this manner is one of the film’s strengths. We don’t want to admit to having a newfound dependency on this type of technology, but we do, and the writing team here know that and revels in making our fears about it come true.

Amy Beth Hayes excels in her practical one-woman show as the unfortunate Becca. The entirety of Wired relies on her performance connecting, and she ends up being an inspired casting piece. You buy every bit of anxiety her character has, and as that anxiety builds on her shoulders, often turning to anger and desperation, you are there with her. You need her out of that apartment as quickly as possible. Hayes makes you feel that for her character, and as good as everything around her in the short film, she is what helps take it to that next level.

It would be remiss not to also mention the unseen co-star of Wired in MAIA herself, voiced by Polly Maberly. She absolutely nails down the voice of what you would expect such a hub to have and how it would gaslight you with its stats and mannerisms. When she becomes threatening, you believe it, even when it is said in a wonderfully mild-mannered way that they would say it. She allows her performance to make your skin crawl just the right amount.

Wired is the type of film that will have those with an inclination of connecting all their home to their central hub second thoughts about connecting absolutely everything and for those of us who are not as found at having technology there to help us throughout our day in such a verbal and almost intrusive fashion, we can be smug at knowing we won’t be in Becca’s shoes anytime soon. Overall, this is an excellent short, crafted with great care, that hooks you in right away.

★★★★

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