Ex Machina -2014- !!install!! 📍

The visual motif of reflection is everywhere. We see Ava not just through the glass of her cell, but through the lens of mirrors, camera feeds, and even Caleb’s phone screen. This is a movie about seeing and being seen. Ava is constantly performing her "self" for the camera in the wall, just as Caleb is performing his intellect for Nathan. The film asks: are we characters, or are we users?

Nathan Bateman is the ghost in the machine. He is a bro-science megalomaniac who lifts weights, drinks beer, and casually unleashes existential terror. Isaac plays him with a terrifying charm. He is the logical endpoint of Silicon Valley’s "move fast and break things" ethos—except the things he breaks are sentient beings. ex machina -2014-