Hot Spot (2026 film)

Set in a near future society ruled by sentient A.I., a private eye investigates a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. As the detective's identity slowly unravels, his world enters a state of hypnotic meltdown.

In the future, all humans are controlled by a sentient A.I. known as The Head. All citizens are required to eat a "jelly bean" daily and on time to feed their implanted nano-bioorganism to stay connected to The Head. Any citizen that refuses to comply are eliminated by The Head.

In a refugee camp at a disused airport, a refugee is killed. The immigration guards report the murder to The Head, who assigns Detective Jan 623 to the case.

Upon arrival at the airport, a woman named Maria is assigned to assist Jan 623 with his investigation.  During the investigation, a refugee named Rana comes under Jan's suspicion.  Through his interrogation of Rana, Jan learns that an immigration guard is responsible for the murder.

Following this lead, Jan uses The Head to conduct a brain scan of the immigration guard's retinal cortex.  Jan eyewitnesses the refugee's murder through his eyes.  The Head orders the remaining immigration guards to apprehend him for the murder.

Jan takes a solar-powered autonomous car ride home.  After Jan takes a moment to reflect on the case while finishing a micro-cigarette outside, Jan walks into his home to greet his wife Ayka and son Zen.  The Head interrupts with the convicted immigration guard's televised apology and begs for absolution, before being executed.

Ayka instructs Zen to disconnect from The Head to avoid seeing the execution.  Jan reminds Ayka everyone is only permitted 3 opportunities to disconnect from The Head before being eliminated or must stay connected to The Head at all times.

The next day, Jan returns to the refugee center to re-interview Rana.  Jan is suspicious of how Rana knew who killed the refugee, but not having seen the murder.  With Maria's help, Rana is discovered not to be connected to The Head nor having any telepathical implants.

Rana reveals herself to be a witch, but iterates that she is not a cyber witch.  On his way home, Jan sees a special red bird, which he stops to televise to Zen.  Jan begins to feel ill and coughs up his nano-bioorganism implant, but is not eliminated by The Head. Jan attends a festival for citizens, hosted by Mona.  Jan draws his gun and points it at Mona, momentarily hallucinating Mona is Rana and is not permitted to attend.

Shocked, Jan holsters his weapon and takes an autonomous ride with Mona.  He sleeps with Mona in the car before dropping her off at her home.  Along the way, Jan hears an animal screaming in the woods.  Jan stops to investigate.  He transforms into a white-striped tiger as he walks through the woods.  He is scared away by a fatally wounded animal.  He returns to the car and goes home, having reverted back into his human form.

Jan returns to the refugee center to confront Rana and demand to know why she is hacking his brain.  She responds it is not her doing it, but Jan himself.  Maria malfunctions and is eliminated by The Head.  Jan demands the immigration guards arrest Rana for her murder.  Rana makes a televised apology before being executed by The Head.

The citizens' connection to The Head is becoming progressively worse, with repeated outages.  Instead of his usual work attire, Jan decides to wear individualistic civilian attire.  Jan attempts to televise a rain shower in the desert to Zen, but fails.  Jan attempts to re-contact Zen, but fails.  Zen televises to Jan that he is on the precipice of a tall building overlooking the city.  Believing Zen will fall, Jan orders the autonomous car to drive to Zen's location.  Jan rescues Zen and they both ride home.

Ayka confesses to Jan that she is responsible for everything.  The refugee she murdered was Rana's lover and Ayka wanted to be with Rana.  Ayka framed the immigration guard.  Ayka used The Head to eliminate Maria.  Akya hacked Jan's brain to hallucinate Mona as Rana.  Akya telepathically manipulated Mona to sleep with Jan while Akya telepathically had sexual experiences with Rana.  Akya is responsible for hacking Zen's brain and walking him to the roof of a tall building in the city.

Ayka reveals herself to be the mastermind behind the rebel group, seeking to dethrone The Head and return citizens to their human empathetic form.  Furious, Jan devolves into his white-striped tiger form and mauls Ayka to death before being fatally shot to death by Zen with Jan's gun.

• Andrzej Konopka as Jan 623, a detective working for The Head
• Noomi Rapace as Rana, a refugee
• Reika Kirishima as Ayka, Jan's wife
• Filippa Kaye as Maria, Jan's assigned partner
• George Aurimas Cris as Zen, the son of Jan and Ayka
• Niki Sereti as Bossa, Jan's supervisor
• Ektoras Liatsos as TseTse, Jan's coworker
• Rasmi Tsopela as Granny, Zen's grandmother
• Eleni Tzangka as Mona

The film was announced in June 2020.^[3] Principal photography took place in Greece, with filming wrapping on 22 November 2024.^[4] Jakub Kijowski served as the cinematographer.^[5] Marcin Macuk and Zuzanna Wrońska composed the score for the film.^[6]

New Europe Film Sales acquired international sales rights to the film.^[7][8] Focus Features and Universal Pictures International will distribute the film internationally, excluding Poland, Greece, and France.^[9][10][11] In France, it will be distributed by The Jokers.^[12] So Films will distribute the film in Poland.^[13]

The film premiered at the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival on 24 July 2026,^[14][15] and was theatrically released in North America on 21 August 2026,^[16] before releasing in Poland on 25 September.^[13]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 19% of 16 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.8/10.^[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 28 out of 100, based on five critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.^[18][19]