Machine Language: An Interview With Alex Garland

This week Alex Garland’s directorial debut Ex Machina hits screens and it’s one of his finest cinematic outings to date. It’s a sci-fi parable about a lonely computer programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) who is hired to assist a search-engine creating genius (Oscar Isaac) test the success of his latest invention: artificial intelligence. His creation is Ava (Alicia Vikander), a remarkably articulate and emotional being with a transparent mechanical body. The only trouble is that it’s hard for Gleeson to tell if Isaac is manipulating him through these tests or if perhaps Ava is manipulating them all.