I, Object

Andrew Niccol, the writer-director behind The Truman Show and Gattaca, shifts gears with this gentle family fantasy. Ten-year-old Tom (Bentley Storteboom) is reeling from his father's death, disconnected from the living world around him. But when everyday items like pop can lids and suitcases start speaking to him, revealing their true faces, Tom finds an unlikely path toward healing. The voice cast includes Ethan Hawke and Jemaine Clement as these animated objects, with Karl Urban and Anna Faris playing the human adults in Tom's life. Shot in New Zealand and Canada on a modest budget, the film relies on Ryan Shore's warm score and Dave Garbett's intimate cinematography to create a world that feels both magical and grounded. Critics praised its emotional sincerity, with early reviews noting how the film avoids saccharine sentimentality in favor of genuine grief work. No franchise ties here; this is a standalone story aimed at families navigating loss.[edit]

Tom is a quiet ten-year-old living in a small coastal town in New Zealand. Six months ago, his father died in a boating accident. His mother Sarah works double shifts as a nurse, and his older brother Jake has retreated into teenage rebellion. Tom spends his days walking the same route to school, avoiding classmates, and sitting on the beach where his father used to take him fishing. His only comfort is a worn-out suitcase that belonged to his dad, which he keeps under his bed.

Strange things start happening when Tom begins hearing voices. A pop can lid rattling in the gutter whispers to him. A broken umbrella in a trash bin calls out. Soon, objects are speaking clearly, revealing animated forms only Tom can see. A rusty bicycle chain introduces itself as Chain (voiced by Ethan Hawke), a cynical piece of metal who has been kicked and forgotten. A cheerful plastic bottle cap named Cap (voiced by Jemaine Clement) bounces along offering comforting nonsense. A lost key (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is anxious and forgetful, always trying to remember what door it once opened.

These objects call themselves the left-behinds. They were once treasured by people who have moved on or passed away. They have been waiting for a Listener someone like Tom who can hear them and help them find closure. Chain hints that Tom's father might have been a Listener too, and that his death may not have been an accident. Tom begins collecting objects, hiding them in his room, and talking to them at night. His mother grows concerned, thinking he is hallucinating from grief. A kind but skeptical school counselor (Karl Urban) tries to intervene, while Jake mocks him.

The objects guide Tom on small quests: returning a lost locket to an elderly woman, fixing a broken wind chime that once belonged to a deceased child, burying a rusted key in the garden of an abandoned house. As Tom helps them find peace, he starts to heal. He talks to his mother again, makes a tentative friend at school, even smiles. But the objects warn him of one final dangerous task. They have sensed a powerful, angry object hidden somewhere in town, something deliberately abandoned that holds a grudge. This object, they say, is connected to Tom's father. Tom decides to seek it out, knowing it may reveal the truth about his father's death or break him entirely.[edit]