Ex Machina

In the directorial debut of screenwriter Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later...), computer programmer Domhnall Gleeson goes through the looking-glass when he wins a competition to spend a week residing with the reclusive creator of the world's top search engine (Oscar Isaac). Gleeson's purpose once there is to perform a variation of the Turing test on an advanced AI (a strikingly sensitive Alicia Vikander) to determine whether it has consciousness. The low-key set-up sees the key players confined to an ultra-modern, highly secure house and grounds, all beautifully rendered in a dreamy haze, and Garland keeps things compellingly cerebral, questioning in a satisfying way what it is to be human. The plot is powered by philosophical debate and tense interactions as Isaac's alcoholic inventor swings between mentorship, malevolence and chilling misogyny, while his protégé begins to fall for his creation. Audiences may find themselves one step ahead of a story that unfurls in a fairly predictable fashion but, nevertheless, Garland has produced something seductively strange, consistently thought-provoking and admirably adult.