Ex Machina

Ex Machina (2015)

Runtime: 108 minutes

Directed by: Alex Garland

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Issac, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno

From: Several different companies, including A24

When I do my Best of 2015 list (sometime in... July of '16 or so) expect this motion picture to be at or near the top. Why did I not see this in a theatre? Because I am a dumbass, apparently. Read my glowing praise for this below in my Letterboxd review, but not before saying that I may post a review Sunday night proper or wait until Monday afternoon:

Oh, what a fool I was for not seeing this theatrically earlier this year.

2015 has been a pretty blah year for me when it comes to motion pictures. I've enjoyed some films quite a bit but there weren't any that I would say was great. Let's not even talk about how I am a rare person that did not care for Fury Road the two times I saw it on the big screen. While there definitely are a few I need to catch up on once they come out on disc or streaming, there's at least a decent chance that Ex Machina will be my top film of this year.

This is the sort of motion picture you want to go in as cold as possible, so I'll just mention the basic plot: a computer programmer (Caleb) wins a lottery at the job he works at-a Google-like company-and he goes to the huge estate in the middle of nowhere of the company's founder, Nathan... a rather odd and standoffish person. He created an android-a lovely lady named Ava-and Caleb has to do sessions with her to see if she could pass for a human. It's the famed Turing Test of computing lore. Things do not go as planned.

This movie isn't extravagant at all; instead, it's low-key and it presents its intelligent and interesting ideas in a measured fashion. I won't give away what those ideas of except for saying that they are mature and thought-provoking, including what it means to be human and the philosophical problems of creating an AI that could possibly fool someone via conversation that they are a person. The only other major character was a maid that is mute (Kyoko), and yet with only a few characters and the setting of a fancy futuristic house in the woods, thought-provoking science fiction greatness was created.

The performances from all four are top-notch. While Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, Oscar Issac as Nathan and Sonoya Mizuno as Kyoko are all great, it is Alicia Vikander's performance as Ava that is truly outstanding. Through various subtle movements and gestures that probably came from her childhood as a ballerina, I can see why so many people went gaga over her performance. She is quite attractive in my opinion but she is definitely more than a pretty face and from what I have heard about her other roles in serious movies, 2015 has been great for her.

Behind the camera is also spectacular. I am talking about such things as cinematography, editing, and my favorite, the cerebral haunting electronic score from Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow. It's cold yet beautiful and it fits like a second skin to the images and the themes of this motion picture. While he spent plenty of time with Danny Boyle, it is still quite the achievement that this is the first movie from Alex Garland, someone who I'll definitely keep an eye on in the future.

Again, I wish that I could have seen this in a theatre but if you enjoy science fiction that isn't dopey or full of noise or bombast, this is a must-see and you must see it as soon as you are able to.