By: ERKIN ESENGELDIEV
Staff writer
“Ex Machina”, directed by Alex Garland and released in 2014, is a movie in the science fiction genre with the elements of thriller, that asks its viewer questions that become so more and more relevant with ever-evolving technologies: What is human? Can artificial intelligence be human? The movie starts with our main protagonist getting excited, winning a competition among his coworkers which grants him a week-long stay at the company’s CEO’s house in the middle of the wilderness. What seems like an amazing opportunity to directly communicate and learn from his boss – turns into a slow-paced descent into madness, involving Ava the First Human-Like Artificial Intelligence, Nathan the CEO, and a mysterious servant who never speaks. The film lacks no amazing scenery, but the shots are incredibly thoughtful, they increase the claustrophobic feeling and overall hopelessness of Caleb’s fate, and add to the plastic, almost dead aesthetic of Nathan’s house. Rarely you can see any round edges or outlines, bright lighting, and open spaces. Everything here keeps you uncomfortable, awkward, and silent. The actors were really good in this movie, Alicia Vikander did an amazing job portraying a robot so innocent and genuine-looking, it was hardly believable that Ava manipulated Caleb’s feelings all that time. Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson were the standouts of this movie for me. The energy between them was the main reason; why this movie had such an eerie feeling. Their confrontations held that suspense that no other scenes could have.