EX Machina - 2014
Plenty of adjectives could be used to describe Ex Machina – eerie, haunting, claustrophic, mind-bending. All are apt, and all convey a portion of this deceptively simple sci-fi yarn. At its core, the film is simply four characters (three primarily) in a secluded estate. The setting is intimate and the budget small. These truths, however, belie the big ideas at the heart of the narrative.
The catalyst for this story is a competition which is initiated by the CEO of a massive internet-search giant. One programmer in the company wins, and as a reward, gets to spend a week at the private estate of the reclusive, aforementioned CEO. Let’s pause here for a moment. The estate is like plush European style…something. I’m not Mr. Feng Shui. All I know is the building has like a Bond villain vibe all over it. Nathan, the CEO, played brilliantly by Oscar Isaac, has a restlessly inventive mind, drinks like a fish, and pumps iron everyday. Caleb, the programmer who wins, also exceptionally played by Domnhall Gleason, is, by way of contrast, timid, unsure, yet also brilliant.
Once the programmer arrives at the estate, he soon learns that though he was brought there under the auspices of a competition’s award, Nathan has altogether different plans for him. He is, rather, to take place in a human Turing Test to determine whether an A.I. created by Nathan is complete. Complete, in this sense, meaning fully capable and conscious enough to respond just as a human being would. Thus begins what proved to be my favorite element of the film, namely that behind all the sci-fi clichés and terminology, what we really have here is a play. A stage play, in fact. A series of vignettes between the programmer and the machine, the latter depicted effortlessly by star Alicia Vikander.
This is a cat and mouse game if there ever is one. As the two “learn” more about each other, care and concern is born in them. Their growing mutual affection stands in stark contrast to the increasingly alienating presence of Nathan. While avoiding spoilers, suffice it to say that Nathan may not prove to be just who he says he is. The same could be said for Caleb and for Ava (the robot).
So, we watch the game of constant one-upmanship pass between the players as a growing sense of dread descends on the whole affair. It is a love triangle of the sort I never expected to enjoy. It has elements of creator and subject and myriad questions about humanity. What’s it mean to be human? Of what are humans fully capable? As we delve into this compacted world of treachery, deceit, and yes, love, perhaps some answers will emerge.
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