Are you trying to figure out what to do this weekend? Maybe taking a trip to the movies will do you good. Recommended movie of the weekend: Ex Machina – still in theaters.
An employee of a high tech company (which is the equivalent of Google but with a different name) wins a lottery. The price of this is a week with his boss in a completely isolated house for a very special experiment: the assessment of a female artificial intelligence. The employee realizes that in judging whether it is an interesting experiment or not, (and even if he finds her attractive), he will decide his fate.
A suitable way to define good cinematography is when half way through a two hour long movie, where people only talk, you realize that you are not bored at all and that this is very exciting. How is this possible? Watch “Ex Machina” and the answer will appear crystal clear to you.
Taking place entirely within closed doors, going from intriguing to exciting, the film manages to take a classic theme with questions about AI and pull a lot of depth in it. This is mainly because it contains “real ” facts based on Google, who are truly interested in the creation of AI.
It is the same for the characters who seem to be the typical archetypes, but turn out to be perfectly consistent and interesting: The boss sees himself as more clever than most people because he created an AI. The main character, an encoder just humble and lonely but with simple values we easily can identify with, is as shocked as us about the twist at the end. The best character is Ava, the robot: she mixes power (in terms of its capacity), empathy and mystery.
The AI form shown in the movie (enterprising and endowed with sensory capacity) helps the discourse of the movie to be even stronger concerning the differences between man and machine. The free people and slaves are leading to many interrogations around the notions of free will, freedom and above all; emancipation.
It seems rather paradoxical for a film about robotics, but the sensory emotions are very well performed, especially on certain passages which are set with the discovery of the body or nature.
The message is also more effective since it is not given in a hyper explicit way but emerges instead in a rather obvious and clear way through the plot of the film. The film is also very well written in addition with its great twists (even if some are sometimes a little predictable especially in the beginning).
So now stop saying, “yeah there is no fighting, it sucks,” you go and you enjoy a rich and awesome film. It is probably one of the best movies of this year.
Text: Leo Darcourt-Gahan & Helen Mehammer – send mail
Photo: www.awarcirquit.com
