While there were many films screened during this year’s Gold Coast Film Festival, arguably one of the most important would be the ending night film. Out of so many they would have had to choose from, the festival team decided to settle with Ex Machina. With an almost full theatre to impress, it fell to this film to end the fantastic festival on a positive note – a challenge it succeeded in achieving. In my opinion, the film lacked a bit of the mass market appeal which could draw large crowds to see it. But like many of the niche appeal of many other films at the festival, I do not consider this to be a barrier. Instead, what it did provide in its almost two-hour runtime was an intellectual and thought-provoking storyline, complemented with some out of the box ideas which I personally found intriguing.
Ex Machina follows a young, intellectual programmer named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), who wins a company lottery to stay with his company’s CEO – Nathan (Oscar Isaac) – at his house in the secluded mountainside. After arriving and being convinced to sign a strict NDA, the true purpose of his visit is revealed. Nathan had managed to produce a humanoid artificial intelligence dubbed Ava (Alicia Vikander), and Caleb was to perform a week-long Turing Test on her. But as Caleb begins to get to know Ava better… mysterious power outages and other events begin to occur…
Those looking for sci-fi action, action in general or just don’t want to think about a film will find little to keep themselves entertained. This is because most of the film involves the characters sitting, standing, walking and/or talking. Instead, the fun for a viewer comes from synthesizing the discussions surrounding AI and the actions of each character, in order to determine what the true motivations are for each.
Are Ava’s romantic actions towards Caleb and warnings about Nathan genuine?
Is Nathan just your average friendly guy or are there dark mysteries surrounding his research?
Who is Caleb going to support/believe?
As more information is shown during each day of “testing”, I found my expectations about the film’s outcome regularly shifting. Director / Writer Alex Garland clearly had the scientific and ethical ideals presented by AI technology down-pat, and used these effectively in delivering the story. Even if it might be considered a tad obvious to some, I thought the conclusion was enriched after forming ones own impressions about each character and having them proved right or wrong.
The storyline and strong acting on behalf of the lead cast is complemented by a fantastic locale (Ex Machina presents one of the best designed “research facilities” I have seen in quite some time) and strong special effects when it came to the design of Ava. Rather than Alicia Vikander just playing the character as-is, parts of her human anatomy are juxtaposed with robotic components. The contrast is effective, maintaining her human expressions but at the same time highlighting she is also a futuristic, life-like robot.
Overall, the production values and strong writing saw Ex Machina provide an intriguing experience, finding many ways to shine amongst a crowd of strong films in the Gold Coast Film Festival’s 2015 line-up. The more serious, dialogue-driven approach to storytelling may not appeal to everyone, but those who want something intellectually stimulating or just love Sci-Fi should find something of value in Ex Machina.
