9
Ex Machina
I
by Jason Coulter
t’s time to get the philosophy degrees out again as we ponder
over Alex Garland’s directorial debut, Ex Machina. Domhnall
Gleeson plays Caleb, the lucky employee of Bluebook who wins
the prize of staying with the company’s owner and founder,
reclusive billionaire Nathan Bateman for a week. It turns out
Nathan has been creating a robot with the most advanced artificial
intelligence technology, and has named her Ava. The job falls on Caleb
to test just how ‘human’ Ava is.
Ex Machina takes a fresh step on some familiar ground. Love, or to
be more precise, attractiveness, plays a key part as we see Caleb and
Ava converse, and sometimes even flirt with each other. The ‘sessions’
as they are called, have an unsettling voyeuristic feel as the pair explore
their feelings and desires. It makes for compelling viewing and Alicia
Vikander does a splendid job with a tricky role. She gives Ava a
childlike innocence, making it impossible not to care for the lonely
A.I., forced to live a life of solitude.
When Caleb first meets Nathan, he offhandedly compares him to a
god, and the film feels like it’s going to take a deep breath and explore
this weighty topic. Instead, it lets the viewer make up their own mind.
It’s obvious that Garland wants the audience to think about, and take
sides in this debate, while also keeping the film clear and concise. Ex
Machina does a brilliant job of staying outside of the discussion,
residing in a morally grey area. One of the reasons this works, is the
intriguing character of Nathan played by Oscar Isaac.
In a film of great