 | Original title: Eva |
Rating:  (3.5 / 5) | |
| Year: 2011 | |
| Director: Kike Maíllo | |
| Duration: 100 min. | |
| Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi |
Eva
Eva is a story about a robotics expert and AI, set in the year 2041. It is then that Alex – a well known programmer – returns to his home town to work on a special project at the local university. To build a new kind of robot – an android really. One that looks and acts human. During his time off work he spends time with his family. His brother David married his ex girlfriend Lana and they have an 11 year old daughter called Eva. Alex and Eva start to bond, and Alex is using her as inspiration to build his new robot. Her reactions, emotions, movements and her face serve as input parameters for the new AI module.
The film is interesting, though a little predictable. The main reason it is interesting is because of its topic. We see more and more appliances with better and better AI. Google’s self driving cars for instance, or products connected to the internet, or even smart recommendations during online shopping (hello increasingly intelligent spam bots!). Another reason is the nice filming going on. The not-human looking robots are actually quite nice and Eva is a very likable character. The human-looking robot butler is pretty cool too, and well acted. This film feels so realistic that I can imagine it becoming a reality during my own lifetime. A little extra backstory is given by the relationship troubles between the three adults: Alex, David and Lana. It does feel a little forced though, and cliche. But I guess I’m just a sucker for films about robots and AI in a (semi-)realistic future society.
I was glad to see that this film seems to have gained a little in popularity since the recent releases of Autómata, Chappie and Ex Machina. They all deal with robots, AI and how they could affect the world we live in. Another well known robot-among-humans film is of course A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Maybe not so well known, like this one, is Japanese anime Time of Eve. Other more classic robots are Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet) and Commander Data (Star Trek: TNG), and of course Battlestar Galactica’s Cylons.
