Alex Garland’s next film, Men, is due for release in June. If you’re intrigued by the mysterious trailer, or you enjoyed either his acclaimed TV series Devs, or the sci-fi horror of Annihilation, then Garland’s directorial debut, Ex Machina, is well worth investigating.
Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a competition at his workplace to visit the home of the company’s reclusive CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Caleb travels to his vast and remote Norwegian estate and, upon arrival, discovers the contest was a smokescreen. Identified as a gifted employee, Caleb has been summoned to work on Nathan’s latest project: an artificial intelligence named Ava (Alicia Vikander). It is Caleb’s job to administer the Turing Test (named after its creator, mathematician Alan Turing), to determine whether Ava has genuine consciousness. If the tester cannot determine if the subject is machine or human, then the test is passed.
