Humane 2024

Charles York, Peter Gallagher summons his four adult children to a tense dinner at his home, where his second wife, celebrity chef Dawn Kim Uni Park, also sits under the same roof. The assembled family includes Jared York, an outspoken anthropologist Jay Baruchel; Rachel York, a controversial pharmaceutical CEO Emily Hampshire; Ashley York, a struggling actress Dani Kind; Noah York, a recovering addict with a volatile edge Sebastian Chacon; and Rachel’s young daughter Mia Sirena Gulamgaus. What begins as a dinner meant to bridge generations quickly spirals into a confrontation about a society-wide crisis: an environmental collapse that has driven governments to embrace voluntary and coerced euthanasia as a population-control measure.

Charles reveals a decision that shocks everyone: he and Dawn have secretly joined the Department of Citizen Strategy, or D.O.C.S., and have chosen euthanasia as their path. Dawn, unsettled by the revelation, slips away from the table and leaves the house, attempting to retreat from the pact she once made. The moment Dawn exits, Bob, a representative of the D.O.C.S., arrives with armed agents, turning the dinner into a high-stakes standoff. The siblings learn that Charles had scheduled his own euthanasia for that same night, with all of them present, which intensifies the moral and personal stakes hanging over the room.

With Dawn now missing, Charles tries to buy time by rescheduling, but Bob slides across documents that could freeze the family’s assets and publicly brand Charles a traitor. Faced with financial ruin and the collapse of their public image, the Yorks are pressed to decide who among them will die. The strain exposes old resentments and new loyalties, and the family’s fragile unity begins to crumble under the weight of fear, guilt, and the looming shadow of the state’s power.

As the clock ticks down, the dynamics among the siblings grow more combustible. Jared suggests that Noah should be the one to die, citing Noah’s adoption and his perceived failings—despite Noah’s attempts to defend himself and his place within the family. Tensions erupt into violence, and a brutal struggle unfolds as Noah fights to protect himself from his siblings’ blows. The room becomes a battlefield, and the four Yorks ultimately restrain him, pushing the situation toward a breaking point.

Noah’s girlfriend Grace Dawson [Blessing Adedijo] arrives after receiving a text, bringing a wave of panic with her presence. Her arrival triggers a chaotic disturbance that ends in tragedy when a D.O.C.S. agent shoots her dead. The blow lands heavy on Noah, who breaks free and resumes his ferocious defense of himself, unleashing a torrent of physical retaliation against those around him. In response to the escalating danger, Rachel volunteers to be euthanized, a choice that compounds the moral calculus already tearing the family apart. Jared, who has his own controversial past—abandoning his first wife and his son Lucas—argues he should be the one to sacrifice himself, highlighting the personal costs of parental and familial obligation.

In a dramatic turn, Noah redirects the urgency of the moment by proposing that they kill Bob instead. The siblings engineer a plan to lure Bob and the D.O.C.S. agents into the house, where they manage to disarm them and take the intruders hostage. The raid comes at a grim cost: Ashley dies from the injuries sustained during the struggle with Noah. The Yorks then euthanize the agent who shot Grace, a grim act that underscores the depth of the conflict and the severing of moral boundaries in a world where life is regulated by the state’s decree.

Bob eventually admits that Dawn has been taken into custody and is being held at D.O.C.S. headquarters, a revelation that adds another layer of danger and uncertainty to the already precarious situation. He continues to bargain and threaten, even as Noah prepares to inject him with the euthanasia drug. The scene cuts away to black, leaving the outcome unresolved and the family’s fate shrouded in ambiguity.

Later, in a sequence that feels almost surreal, Jared, Rachel, Mia, Dawn, and Jared’s son Lucas attend a piano concert performed by Noah, a once-promising virtuoso whose career has been derailed by the family’s ordeal. The image of Noah at the keyboard serves as a stark contrast to the violence and fear that defined the night. A bruised and beleaguered Bob reappears in a television commercial, offering a chilling glimpse of how the government’s propaganda machine reframes the episode, suggesting that Ashley and Grace chose to enlist in voluntary euthanasia.

What unfolds is a meditation on loyalty, guilt, and the price of choosing life under a regime that treats existence as a public policy problem. The York family’s dinner, once a routine gathering, becomes a crucible where each member confronts their past, their biases, and the limits of their own humanity. As the story closes, it hints at a society in which individual choices are overshadowed by the state’s compelling narrative, leaving viewers to ponder what it means to belong to a family when the system itself has already decided who deserves to live.