No, After Yang is not about the state of New York City after the failed mayoral campaign of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang — though, like the forward-thinking math rhapsodist politician, After Yang does have some thought-provoking technology-driven ideas about the future and is built on an Asian American character. After Yang is a Showtime film, also available in select theaters and on Amazon Prime through its Showtime add-on, about a not particularly tight-knit family and the very human-looking robot that was one of the few things holding it together and their somber search for a way to revive the robot, as well as the husband, wife, and daughter’s relationships with one another, when the robot suddenly stops functioning.

The husband, wife, and daughter are Jake (Colin Farrell), Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith), and Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja). Mika is an adopted child as well as an only child. To assuage their daughter’s loneliness and sense of isolation from those around her, they’ve given her a robot sibling named Yang, hoping that he can be a handy older brother to her as well as a family member who can help her connect with her Chinese roots. Yang seems to have been effective in both of these roles. And, as we learn, he also turned into an empathetic companion and confidant of Jack’s. As human-looking as he is, though, Yang is still a piece of technological equipment, and like even the best man-made machines, he is subject to periodic crashes and inconvenient malfunctions.