Ex Machina (2015), R, ★★★★

Eva, the android, interacting with another woman.

How does one feel when you are facing with technology that feels like an attractive figure that is staring at you and maybe seducing you? How does one feel when he or she (an artificial-intelligence figure) is attracted to you or if one is attracted to the android? It is weird because wouldn't the population decrease if any one human has artificial sex with an android? But, in the end, it is all about the interaction between an android and a human. It is the two-fold chemistry and psychology that makes you think and wonder as you witness one of the quietest science-fiction movies in recent years. However, this quiet science fiction film is mesmerizing to look at and also unpredictable that it'll keep you on the edge of your seat.

A computer coder named Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) has won a "lottery ticket" for a chance to spend a week at a reclusive area in the mountain in the house of Nathan (Oscar Isaac), a genius and CEO of a company called BlueBook, the company that Caleb works for. On the first day, Caleb is dropped off by helicopter in the middle of a reserve and hitchhike to Nathan's house where he is greeted by an automated system as it issues him a key card allowing him to enter the property. Caleb wanders around being confused with no one in sight until he sees Nathan working out.

Nathan greets Caleb and shows him around the house and he tells Caleb that the key card will only open certain doors in his "facility" and he has him sign a "non-disclosure" agreement. Nathan claims that Caleb wants to be friends with him, but, otherwise, their relationship is awkward and tense.

Later, Nathan introduces Caleb to his experiment and says that Caleb needs to spend the week performing a "Turing test", a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or an indistinguishable form, of a human. The "experiment" is a humanoid artificial intelligence named Ava (Alicia Vikander), which has a face, hands and feet that are made up of human flesh but her rest of the body is of a cyborg. However, he questions what will happen is she fails the "test." What will happen if Caleb gets emotionally bonded with Ava?

This is the "test".

This is by far the best film of the year so far. The cinematography by Rob Hardy and production design by Mark Digby creates an elegant look to the movie as the tone and the design of the film makes it look like a film made by, get ready, Stanley Kubrick. There are a few echoes of Kubrick-ness and maybe a hint of Spielberg as to the material that makes you think and evaluates the chemistry between two very interesting characters and a human and an android. Plus, it's mostly engaged in its ideas than its effects which is something that I really want from a sci-fi film.

Domnhall Gleeson is right for the film as we engage with him as he is established as not just the main character but also a participant like the audience as to what is going on in the secluded environment. Oscar Isaac has established as one of the most engaging actors recently with Inside Llewyn Davis, A Most Violent Year and this one. He is a confusing character with subtlety in the exterior but maybe some hostility on the inside. Alicia Vikander has created a star-making performance in her role as an interesting and vulnerable android that keeps you guessing.

I cannot reveal major spoilers because it is so unpredictable as to how this "experiment" will unfold and what Caleb will reveal to himself and to the audience. Or is it going to be Nathan? Or is it going to be Ava? Who knows? It is a great science-fiction film that engages you in its ideas and the characters' process of what he or she will do to decide their fates and the ending is just right in its own turf. It is directed by Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later & Sunshine, who makes a debut and hits a home-run with this small but masterful film.

****