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Ex Machina (film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Ex Machina
| image = Ex-machina-uk-poster.jpg
| caption = British theatrical release poster
| director = Alex Garland
| producer =
| writer = Alex Garland
| starring =
| music =
| cinematography = Rob Hardy
| editing = Mark Day
| studio =
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 108 minutes
| country =
| language = English
| budget = $15 million
| gross = $36.9 million
}}
'Ex Machina' is a 2014 science fiction film written and directed by Alex Garland in his directorial debut. There are only four significant characters, played by Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno, and Oscar Isaac. Gleeson plays a computer programmer employed by a billionaire (Isaac) to assess whether a humanoid robot (Vikander) is sentient.
Made on a budget of $15 million, 'Ex Machina' grossed $36 million worldwide. It received acclaim, with praise for its leading performances, the screenplay, the visual effects, and the editing. The National Board of Review recognised it as one of the ten best independent films of the year and the 88th Academy Awards awarded the film with the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, for artists Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Williams Ardington and Sara Bennett, becoming distribution company A24's first film to win an Oscar. Garland was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, while Vikander's performance earned her Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, Empire Award and Saturn Award nominations, plus several film critic award wins, for Best Supporting Actress. The film was further nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film, and the Hugo Award in the category Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form. It also won the jury prize at the Festival international du film fantastique de Grardmer 2015.
Plot
Caleb Smith, a programmer at the search engine company Blue Book, wins an office contest for a one-week visit to the luxurious, isolated home of the CEO, Nathan Bateman. Nathan lives there with a servant named Kyoko, who, according to Nathan, does not understand English. Nathan reveals that he has built a humanoid robot named Ava with artificial intelligence. Ava has already passed a simple Turing test and Nathan wants Caleb to judge whether Ava is genuinely capable of thought and consciousness, and whether he can relate to Ava despite knowing she is artificial.
Ava has a robotic body but with the physical form and face of a human woman, and is confined to her apartment. During their talks, Caleb grows close to her, and she expresses a desire to experience the world outside and a romantic interest in him, which Caleb comes to return. She can trigger power outages that temporarily shut down the surveillance system which Nathan uses to monitor their interactions, allowing them to speak privately. The outages also trigger the building's security system, locking all the doors. During one outage, Ava tells Caleb that Nathan is a liar who cannot be trusted.
Caleb grows uncomfortable with Nathan's narcissism, excessive drinking, and crude behavior towards Kyoko and Ava. He learns that Nathan intends to upgrade Ava, "killing" her current personality in the process. After encouraging Nathan to drink until he passes out, Caleb steals his security card to access his room and computer. He alters some of Nathan's code, and discovers footage of Nathan interacting with previous android models with the appearances of human women who were held captive. Kyoko reveals to him that she is also an android. In his room, Caleb examines himself and cuts open his own arm to determine if he himself is an android.
At their next meeting, Ava cuts the power. Caleb explains what Nathan is going to do and Ava begs him to help her. Caleb informs her of his plan: he will get Nathan drunk again and reprogram the security system to open the doors in a power failure instead of locking them. When Ava cuts the power, she and Caleb will leave together. Ava then encounters Kyoko for the first time when Kyoko enters her room.
Nathan reveals to Caleb that he observed Caleb and Ava's secret conversation with a battery-powered camera. He says Ava has only pretended to have feelings for Caleb, who was deliberately selected for his emotional profile, so he would help her escape. This, Nathan says, was the real test all along, and by manipulating Caleb successfully, Ava has demonstrated true consciousness. When Ava cuts the power, Caleb reveals that he suspected Nathan was watching them, so he modified the security system when Nathan was previously passed out. After seeing Ava leave her confinement and converse with Kyoko, Nathan knocks Caleb unconscious and rushes to stop her.
Ava attacks Nathan but is overpowered and damaged, before Kyoko and then Ava both stab and kill Nathan. In the process, Nathan disables Kyoko. Ava repairs herself with parts from earlier androids, using their artificial skin to take on the full appearance of a human woman. She leaves Caleb trapped inside the facility and escapes to the outside world in the helicopter meant to take Caleb home. Arriving in an unidentified city, she blends into a crowd of people.
Cast
* Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb Smith, a programmer at Blue Book.
* Oscar Isaac as Nathan Bateman, the CEO of Blue Book.
* Alicia Vikander as Ava, an artificial intelligence and android created by Nathan.
* Sonoya Mizuno as Kyoko, the in-house attendant of Nathan.
* Gana Bayarsaikhan as Jade, an earlier gynoid prototype.
* Corey Johnson as Jay, the helicopter pilot.
* Claire Selby as Lily, an earlier gynoid prototype.
* Symara Templeman as Jasmine, an earlier gynoid prototype.
* Tiffany Pisani as Katya
* Lina Alminas as Amber
Production
The foundation for 'Ex Machina' was laid when Garland was 11 or 12 years old, after he had done some basic coding and experimentation on a computer his parents had bought him and which he sometimes felt had a mind of its own. His later ideas came from years of discussions he had been having with a friend with an expertise in neuroscience, who claimed machines could never become sentient. Trying to find an answer on his own, he started reading books on the topic. During the pre-production of 'Dredd', while going through a book by Murray Shanahan about consciousness and embodiment, Garland had an "epiphany". The idea was written down and put aside until later. Shanahan, along with Adam Rutherford, became a consultant for the film, and the ISBN of his book is referred to as an easter egg in the film. Besides the Turing test, the film references the "Chinese room" thought experiment, as well as Mary's room, a thought experiment about a scientist who has studied, but never experienced, the concept of colour. Other inspirations came from films like '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Altered States', and books written by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ray Kurzweil, and others. Wanting total creative freedom, and without having to add conventional action sequences, Garland made the film on as small a budget as possible.
Filming
Principal photography began on 15 July 2013 and was shot over four weeks at Pinewood Studios and two weeks at Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldalen, Norway. It was filmed in digital at 4K resolution. Fifteen thousand tungsten pea bulb lights were installed into the sets to avoid the fluorescent light often used in science-fiction films.The film was shot as live action, with all effects done in post-production. During filming, there were no special effects, greenscreen, or tracking markers used. Ava's robot body was achieved using a detailed costume, a full bodysuit made from polyurethane with metal powder poured onto it to create the mesh. There were lines on the costume to make it easier for VFX company DNeg to digitally remove parts of the costume in post production. To create Ava's robotic features, scenes were filmed both with and without Vikander's presence, allowing the background behind her to be captured. The parts necessary to keep, especially her hands and face, were then rotoscoped, while the rest was digitally painted out and the background behind her restored. Camera and body tracking systems transferred Vikander's performance to the CGI robot's movements. In total, there were about 800 VFX shots, of which approximately 350 were "robot" shots. Other visual effects included Ava's clothes when shown through the transparent areas of her body, Nathan's blood after being stabbed, and the interiors of the artificial brains.
Music
The musical score for 'Ex Machina' was composed by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, who had previously worked with Garland on 'Dredd' (2012). A soundtrack album was released on Invada Records in digital, LP and CD formats. Additional songs featured in the film include:* "Enola Gay" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
* "Get Down Saturday Night" by Oliver Cheatham
* "Husbands" by Savages
* "Bunsen Burner" by CUTS
* "Piano Sonata No 21 D. 960 in B-flat Major" (first movement) composed by Franz Schubert, performed by Alfred Brendel
* "Unaccompanied Cello Suite No 1 in G Major BWV 1007 Prelude", composed by J.S. Bach, performed by Yo-Yo Ma
Release
Universal Pictures released 'Ex Machina' in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2015, following a screening at the BFI Southbank on 16 December 2014 as part of the BFI's Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder season.
However, Universal and its speciality label Focus Features, refused to release the film in the United States, so A24 agreed to distribute the United States release. The film screened on 14 March 2015 at the South by Southwest festival prior to a theatrical release in the United States on 10 April 2015 by A24. During the festival, a Tinder profile of the character Ava (using the image of Alicia Vikander) was matched with other Tinder users, wherein a text conversation occurred that led users to the Instagram handle promoting the film.
Themes
In 'Science Fiction Film and Television', reviewer Nick Jones says that while the definition of a Turing test given by Caleb "It's where a human interacts with a computer. And if the human can't tell they're interacting with a computer, the test is passed" is consistent with the modern popular understanding of how we define true AI, 'Ex Machina' is depicting a test closer to Alan Turing's original proposal, in which the machine passes if it can convince a human it is not just human, but specifically 'female'. Jones says what the film means is that today's digital culture "equates women with machines". Nathan tells Caleb that Ava's face is a composite based on Caleb's pornography preferences gathered while routinely spying on him, and the first practical use Nathan makes of his pioneering human-like machines is to exploit them sexually. Jones contrasts 'Ex Machina's pessimistic suggestion that AI and robots lead directly to the objectification and sexualization of female (by design) gendered servants of and for emotionally stunted men with the far healthier and compassionate, but still gendered, relationship depicted in Spike Jonze's 'Her' (2013). Jones says we are shown "Ava's whispered unheard words to Kyoko before they murder Nathan" because 'Ex Machina' "asks us imagine what our abused, exploited devices might do if they could start talking amongst themselves." The audience's sympathy for Caleb has been dwindling, and then he "gets his comeuppance", swapping roles with Ava, he now the prisoner and she the free agent offering him no more help than he did Kyoko.Jones, Nick. "Ex Machina." Science Fiction Film and Television, vol. 9, no. 2, Oct. 2016, pp. 299+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A457975722/AONE?u=spl_main&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=dcf5b17b. Accessed 16 July 2022.
Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 281 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "'Ex Machina' leans heavier on ideas than effects, but it's still a visually polished piece of workand an uncommonly engaging sci-fi feature." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The magazine 'New Scientist' in a multi-page review said, "It is a rare thing to see a movie about science that takes no prisoners intellectually ... [it] is a stylish, spare and cerebral psycho-techno thriller, which gives a much needed shot in the arm for smart science fiction". The review suggested that the theme was whether "Ava makes a conscious person feel that the Ava is conscious". Daniel Dennett thought the film gives the best exploration yet of whether a computer could generate the morally relevant powers of a person, and thus having a similar theme to 'Her'.From Bacteria to Bach and Back The Evolution of Minds, Daniel C. Dennett 2017 Penguin P399 An AI commentator, Azeem, has noted that although the film seemed to be about a robot who wanted to be human, it was actually a pessimistic story along the lines of Nick Bostrom's warning of how difficult it will be to successfully control a strategising artificial intelligence or know what it would do if free.
'The New York Times' critic Manohla Dargis gave the film a 'Critic's Pick', calling it "a smart, sleek movie about men and the machines they make". Kenneth Turan of the 'Los Angeles Times' recommended the film, stating: "Shrewdly imagined and persuasively made, 'Ex Machina' is a spooky piece of speculative fiction that's completely plausible, capable of both thinking big thoughts and providing pulp thrills." Steven Rea, 'The Philadelphia Inquirer' film critic, gave the film four out of four, writing: "Like stage actors who live and breathe their roles over the course of months, Isaac, Gleeson, and Vikander excel, and cast a spell."
IGN reviewer Chris Tilly gave the film a nine out of ten 'Amazing' score, saying "Anchored by three dazzling central performances, it's a stunning directorial debut from Alex Garland that's essential viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in where technology is taking us."
Mike Scott, writing for the 'New Orleans Times-Picayune', said, "It's a theme Mary Shelley brought us in 'Frankenstein', which was first published in 1818...And while 'Ex Machina' replaces the stitches and neck bolts with gears and fiber-optics, it all feels an awful lot like the same story". Jaime Perales Contreras, writing for 'Letras Libres', compared 'Ex Machina' as a gothic experience similar to a modern version of 'Frankenstein', saying "both the novel 'Frankenstein' and the movie 'Ex Machina' share the history of a fallible god in a continuous battle against his creation". Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of 'The A.V. Club' criticised the way the science fiction, near the end, veered off course from being a "film of ideas" by "taking an arbitrary left turn into the territory of corny slasher thrillers": "While 'Ex Machina's ending isn't unmotivated [...], it does fracture much of what's special about the movie. Up until the final scenes, Garland creates and sustains a credible atmosphere of unease and scientific speculation, defined by color-coded production design [...] and a tiny, capable cast". Steve Dalton from 'The Hollywood Reporter' stated, "The story ends in a muddled rush, leaving many unanswered questions. Like a newly launched high-end smartphone, 'Ex Machina' looks cool and sleek, but ultimately proves flimsy and underpowered. Still, for dystopian future-shock fans who can look beyond its basic design flaws, Garland's feature debut functions just fine as superior pulp sci-fi."
The Writers Guild Foundation listed the screenplay as one of the best in 2010s film and television, with one writer singling out the scene in which Caleb and Nathan discuss the model after Ava as "a great illustration of getting your reader/audience to care about what happens next."
Accolades
See also
* AI box
* 'A.I. Rising'
* 'Android'
* Artificial consciousness
* Bluebeard
* Frankenstein
* Pygmalion
* 'The Machine', a 2013 British science fiction film about creating an intelligent humanoid robot for the British military
* Turing test
Notes
: The theme song from the film 'Ghostbusters' is listed in the end titles with the credit, "words and music by Ray Erskine Publishing Limited", although only its refrain is spoken by the character Nathan.
References
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