Five Star Existence

Even though director Sonja Lindén thoroughly enjoys the enormous freedom and flexibility technology provides for the human race, she also feels trapped by it. In a day in her life played at accelerated speed, we see just how much of it revolves around technology. She wonders whether technology isn't taking over too much of our lives. Are we becoming too dependent on it? Is it really such a good thing to be able to work wherever you want, and doesn't that mean we end up working all the time? Taking her personal questions as her point of departure, Lindén looks at various aspects of our modern information society. She allows proponents and opponents to have their say, without ever drawing conclusions or expressing her own opinion - although she does often use metaphorical imagery to emphasize the words of the interviewees. We see horses, steam rising from their bodies as they race along, while we're listening to discussions about the overheated modern human, who has to process three to five hundred times as many stimuli as before, with a nervous system that hasn't changed for millennia. The title refers to Songdo City in South Korea, where they're working on a "five-star existence." This will allow you to set the temperature at home while you're still on the go, and children will be able to play on the streets in complete safety, because of all the cameras keeping a watchful eye on them.