Set in the near future, director Gabe Ibanez's "Automata" finds humanity reliant upon a robot workforce. These robots unexpectedly develop "consciousness", "higher order sentience" and "self-awareness". This evolution goes unnoticed, until insurance agent Jacq Vaucan (Antonio Banderas) discovers that the robots are rebelling against their programming and migrating out of human cities and into surrounding deserts. The robots want freedom from servitude. Their makers have other plans.
Anyone familiar with old science fiction, and the works of Isaac Asmiov in particular, will find no surprises in "Automata". Cutting edge science fiction has itself long moved past simple robot/human demarcations, and contemporary neuroscience has now overturned most previous notions of consciousness, subjectivity and self-hood. This is a big problem for "Automata"; the film continually insists upon its profundity, yet remains wedded to a 1940s/50s conception of man and robots.
Still, "Automata" achieves much on a small budget. The film creates a relatively interesting dystopia future, its robot special effects are excellent (lots of good puppet work) and the film's first half boasts fine, noirish ambiance reminiscent of "Blade Runner". The film was shot entirely in Bulgaria, now a low-cost haven for movie producers.
7/10 - Worth one viewing. See Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell 2".
Anyone familiar with old science fiction, and the works of Isaac Asmiov in particular, will find no surprises in "Automata". Cutting edge science fiction has itself long moved past simple robot/human demarcations, and contemporary neuroscience has now overturned most previous notions of consciousness, subjectivity and self-hood. This is a big problem for "Automata"; the film continually insists upon its profundity, yet remains wedded to a 1940s/50s conception of man and robots.
Still, "Automata" achieves much on a small budget. The film creates a relatively interesting dystopia future, its robot special effects are excellent (lots of good puppet work) and the film's first half boasts fine, noirish ambiance reminiscent of "Blade Runner". The film was shot entirely in Bulgaria, now a low-cost haven for movie producers.
7/10 - Worth one viewing. See Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell 2".