Android who came to earth

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2015)

Ex Machina is writer-director Alex Garland's debut film.Formerly a novelist turned screenwriter,now director. Garland has an evident fascination with AI.He's stripped away the 'Deus' from ex ma-china,now that science and computer intelligence are the predominant influences on our consciousness. There is a plausibility to the science involved,whereas the idea of divine intervention to resolve our problems has vastly receded,but even in ancient times it was implausible.This is a very smart, immaculate,beautifully surfaced film,with simple.sensuous interiors. The setting and the location(Artic/Norway) are beautiful.Costs have been kept down by reducing the drama to a trio of 3 main actors and turning a reflection on how like us a machine is or could become and turning it into a thriller.Both are centred on the mind;we are dealing with the problem of ourselves,the theory of mind, self-awareness,how what makes us different to animals and plants,can make us create android/machines like us with sentience and consciousness. A fear by Hawking that full AI could spell the end of the human race is not presented here.Indeed Garland is more hopeful about the development of conscious machines, seeing them as our robotic offspring.
Caleb Smith(Domnhall Gleeson),a young coder at search engine Bluebook is selected by the reclusive billionaire CEO Nathan Bateman to be flown by Helicopter to his mountain retreat in Alaska: his task to carry out the Turin Test on Nathan's latest AI android,Ava(Alicia Vikander).Due to our fetishisation of young women in their 20s,she is asked to carry the main themes of the film.What's happening to the protagonist is what's happening to the audience.Although Ava is clearly through CGI,more machine than human,Vikander's subtly sensuous performance makes her erotic appeal to Caleb(and us)clear to see.Nathan taunts Caleb over his growing attraction to Ava.Over 1 week Caleb has a number of sessions with Ava,talking to her each day with Nathan listening in.The conversations are interrupted by power cuts,which Ava claims to be causing,which supposedly cut off the microphones.During a break she tells Caleb he shouldn't trust Nathan.Does Ava actually like him or is she just pretending to?Who do you trust in this glassed-in complex with a view of a small,inaccessible garden? Nathan(brilliantly played by Isaac gone native) reminds Caleb, "consciousness cannot exist without intention",and Ava's intentions are inscrutable.The more she makes him talk about himself,the more we wonder who's agenda wins?
If you're someone who thinks something more is going on in intelligence than the Turin test implies(which is more about mimicry),then you'll not be convinced by Ava's ability to seduce Caleb(which is also about affection/emotion),you'll wonder about her callous disregard for him as she tries to escape. You'll also wonder how she has the knowledge to use language of humanity like "I learn nothing about you. That's not a foundation upon which friendships are based." How does she develop the rhythm of interaction of real people, to convince the outside world she is real?The AI of an android may lack empathy, how can you have artificial emotion/affection, though she may look beautiful and create a beautiful illusion of sexuality, she has no solidarity with either human being she encounters, she has her own agenda and she uses and exploits the humans she deceives. Consciousness has intentionality so that it's embodied and directed outwards. It's the heart which is the part that makes us right or wrong.Is the liberated woman(as Ava) merely heartless? The film is a chamber piece of sci-fi full of provocative ideas.Garland's 1st effort as director bodes well for the future.Brilliant writing as the tension mounts up, a suitable techno score to highlight.