Saturday, January 23, 2016

Ex Machina (2015, R)

This is the sort of movie the Oscars don’t pay attention to but is good enough that they can’t ignore it entirely.  What to do with such a film?  Nominate it for best original screenplay!  But in all seriousness, I found this a stylish, cerebral film that explores what it means to be human.

Caleb, a skilled coder, is thrilled when his name is drawn for the ultimate company prize:  a week of exclusive face-time with the company’s brilliant but reclusive owner in his private mountain retreat.  Upon his arrival, Caleb’s boss Nathan ups the ante even further.  He reveals to Caleb that he’s built a functioning AI, and Caleb will have the privilege of being the human component in the Turing test he’s running on his creation.  Over the course of Caleb’s sessions with the AI, called Ava, he looks for flaws or “tells” in her programming, but he soon finds himself pulled into the intense drama of an artificial being fighting for her right to survive.

I’ve not seen writer (now writer-director) Alex Garland’s other work, though I’ve heard excellent things about 28 Days Later and Sunshine; however, this movie makes a fine case for his abilities.  The script keeps the viewer guessing alongside Caleb, constantly challenging the idea of who is human, what makes us that way, and what rights that gives us.  The plot moves seamlessly between philosophical sci-fi, extreme suspense, and deeply personal, intimate character drama. 

I really like that the film pulls in questions, not just of humanity at large, but of gender-specific humanity as well.  There’s Nathan’s frank discussion of Ava’s anatomy and sexuality and his observation that it’s no wonder she’s drawn to Caleb, the first man she’s seen besides her creator.  There’s the way he treats Kyoko, his gorgeous servant who “doesn’t speak a word of English” (to protect the secrecy of his work, you know,) like an object.  There’s the way Ava explores herself as a woman, and of course, there’s the fact that the creator-creation dynamic takes a more unnerving slant when it’s a heterosexual male creating a beautiful female that he keeps locked up in his house, especially one made in such a state of near-nakedness that most of her body doesn’t even have skin to cover her.  Is Nathan Ava’s god?  Her father?  Her captor?  Her voyeur?  Her owner?  The gender relations make all these issues even more engrossing than they already were.

No surprise, the acting MVP is Alicia Vikander’s Ava.  I love that she speaks and moves like a robot but still infuses the role with such humanity.  Tiny gestures and inflections forever remind you that, while Ava isn’t human, that doesn’t mean she’s not real.  Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley from Harry Potter) does a solid job as Caleb, a smart man who’s in no way prepared for the head-trip he endures in this movie.  And in #OscarsSoWhite news, I’d previously heard great things about Oscar Isaac (the hugely likeable Poe from Star Wars:  The Force Awakens) as Nathan, and his performance is fascinating – he strikes a perfect balance between affable and a-hole, disarming and dangerous.  Realistically, though, he’s too understated and the film is too outside-the-box for award notice; if the Academy didn’t recognize Vikander’s incredible work, there was no way they’d look twice at Isaac’s terrific but non-showy performance.

Warnings

Sexual content (including nudity and implied nonconsensual sex,) language, violence, drinking, and thematic elements.

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