Deus Ex Machina - humanity and gods

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2015)

Ex Machina proposes the same question that many other sci-fi flicks of the like pose: what makes us human, what humanity consists of. It's a tough theme to tackle and effectively display on the screen, especially for a directorial debut like Alex Garland's.
It's a simplistic production design which draws us in in the same way that it draws Caleb in when arriving at the house, no, the research facility for the first time. The set is claustrophobically sleek despite hidden deep within forests and gorgeous waterfalls. The walls are smooth and stylish but sterile, lacking windows to offer any chance of escape or relent. All this points to a rather lonely existence for the god creator figure in Nathan. The cinematography allows for some subtle inserts of power balances. The framing of the interviews is often reversed despite the roles the two occupy: Caleb rooted to a chair and boxed in within the frame (both literally and metaphorically) while Ava is free to move about in her open space. Sometimes it's not so subtle, as shown when harsh red light signals some more urgent plot advancement and hints of Nathan's evil intentions.
The crux of this issue is that Ex Machina sets out from the start to trick the audience. It's a Turing Test in itself; the entire perspective of Ava is shown only to allow us to empathise and convince ourselves of her humanity. It can be argued that this is detrimental or beneficial to the overall quality of the film. It's a clever twist that Garland doesn't quite pull off wit the most grace. Alicia Vikander gives a great performance, particularly in her physical mannerism and speech which highlight her roboticism even without the intricate effects. Yet the same indications exist in Kyoko, the assistant who is very obviously a robot despite the planning of said twist. The absurd dancing scene only hammers down this point and undermines the complexity of the overall theme of the film. It's not helped by the fact that we spend not enough time in the sessions and more waxing lyrical with Nathan and Caleb. In some ways Garland spends more on the development of Nathan (despite him being a very straightforward character) than Caleb. We have to be told at the film's first climax that he is a lonely, susceptible and relatively morally good person rather than it being evident in the performance and the script's nuances. The small talk in the sessions is rather shallow and short and in the end there's no real emotional conviction to Caleb's struggles over whether or not he is an AI. It manifests into a rather pointless tangent.
The real paradox of the film is the character of Nathan and his treatment of his past AIs. At once we are supposed to feel shock and anger and sympathy for the past AIs. The montage of one of them banging on the door until her limbs shatter is a harrowing one if not for my interpretation which only means that particular AI was doing all it could in order to tempt Nathan into letting her out. The audience is then fooled, much like Caleb is, into feeling empathy for them and for Ava. Simultaneously we believe every single word that Ava spits out to charm Caleb. Initially her character design is overtly robotics and transparent like her intentions, but later she covers up with human clothes in a metaphoric and literal sense to create the symbolic illusion for Caleb. It's tough to gauge because author intention isn't obvious, which is perhaps a credit to the complexity of the issues which exist in Ex Machina. Nathan is straightforward as the ego- maniac genius who has a god complex and who engineers these AIs in order to do everything they can to escape. Yet his hubris eventuates into his lack of control over them when they do escape. Thematically it's very tense as the contrast between the fear and incredulity of Nathan's expressions ("f*cking unreal") to the blank slate of Ava's makes for a very surreal scene. It might have been even better had Kyoko's role felt less like a plot device that suddenly turns on his master.
In the end Ava's decision to leave Caleb feels systematic and cold, which is exactly what it should feel like. It rubbed many viewers the wrong way, including me, but perhaps that is the intended effect. We've spent nearly two hours eating up her character only to have it all come crashing down. Is it supposed to undercut the emotional tension and grief of all the other AIs? Judging by the intimate way in which Ava achieves full 'humanity' in stealing the skin and clothes of the former AI, maybe. Garland's execution of his ideas isn't perfect and as a result key philosophical questions like whether Ava is programmed to manipulate hold less weight. This is answered quite clearly in the first twist where Nathan reveals his entire test for his AI. All the musing and back- and-forth between Nathan and Caleb similarly become futile when it is revealed what Nathan's intentions really are. Ex Machina is an interesting and well made film, albeit with so questionable representations and not really breaking any new ground in the sci-fi genre.
For something of similar thematic content, check out "Be Right Back", an episode of the UK series Black Mirror which also stars Domhnall Gleeson, this time as an AI back from the dead at the request of her widowed partner. It's a more straightforward but emotionally deep narrative.