"Ex Machina" by Alex Garland (2015)

The more I think about this latest British SF drama, the more I like it and even now, morning after,with relatively clearer mind some things appear even more multi-layered than upon first sight. First of all, there is freshness in approaching artists that are not yet familiar blockbuster faces so story unfolds in front of us without having any previous connection to them - we are forced to simply follow and soak everything in without burden of celebrity background that often works against the movie. Than there is a story that is gripping and unexpected to the very end, very rare thing indeed. The claustrophobic atmosphere, background music, high-tech wizardry that is in the heart of the movie but always serving the script and never overshadowing it - its all very well done and it almost reminds you how movies can be work of intelligent art and not just brainless clichés we are constantly faced with. And lastly, characterisation and acting is excellent which is naturally required in order to make everything convincing - and darn convincing it was, since I continued to discuss the movie long after it ended with my friends and each of us had his own point of view, almost like we saw different story. 

Musing about it morning after, I am aware that its allegory that works on so many different levels: God, creation, spirit, independence, religion, feminism, manipulation, Bluebeard, you name it. Of course you can also take it as a pure SF story if you are not inclined to analyse anything but I found it impossible as my brain constantly worked overtime, finding hints and meanings between the lines. There are just so many questions about moral and immoral here that the movie stays with you much longer than you might expect. Perhaps the only thing that felt wrong was the beer-guzzling, almost truck-driving personality of Nathan (who is supposed to be this intellectual superpower and mad genius) but power of Oscar Isaac's acting was so strong that I quickly forgot that personally I would rather see him as some mad Einstein professor, it works at the end. This must be one of the best and most unforgettable movies I have seen recently.