Film critic by Gautam Valluri for Brokenprojector.com Friday, February 4, 2011
Guillaume Martinez's newest mid-length film "Nova Eva" is a very interesting film. Lasting just a bit over a half an hour, it makes its place alongside films like Primer (2004) in the new wave of science fiction cinema. Legendary French actress Edith Scob stars as the pivotal lead, professor Eda Baykan in a very commendable performance.
The film is set in the near future and finds it's premise in the Sensitive Artificial Intelligence or 'SAI' project. In the first third of the film we find that Eda Baykan (Scob) was one of the scientists working on the project to create a system of Artificial Intelligence that can feed itself "cycle after cycle" and create its own evolution. We also find that sometime prior to the events of the film, the project was abandoned due to the failure in achieving any sort of result. Eda Baykan is forced to re-visit the program after the death of one of her former colleagues who sends her a video-recorded message saying he might have found a way to make it work.
For the benefit of the film's upcoming screenings and to keep its charm alive, no further information will be revealed about the plot.
The underlying theme of the film is the concept of birth. Human beings evolved from simpler forms because of evolution and we are in the process of it as we speak. We often find the newest generation is faster and more intelligent that we were during our childhood. Director Martinez cleverly places the film in the near future and has a lot of shots featuring children playing in a playground. There is a great shot of a few children playing on a circular slide which could be a metaphor for the various "loops" that the programmers talk about and also for the "circle of life" theory. One can wonder that these children of the information age have never probably experienced activities like taking notes by hand or typing their own emails and that is where the point of the film lies.
"Eva" the program that was the center of the SAI project can be seen as Eda Baykan's child. She refers to the program as 'her' and provides an almost maternal attention to it. Over several of her conversations with Ravi Rushdie, her ex-colleague on the project, we learn the basis of the new theory she is working with. She applies logic such as "search and deduction" in place of "search and result" and "understanding" in place of "archiving".
In the first video conference with Rushdie, we meet his grandson who unknowingly interrupts the call. In essence, we see Rushdie the ancestor or the source and his grandson who is his descendant and thus, an updated version of Rushdie himself. The film has many of these visual metaphors.
Eda "teaches" Eva how to make deductions based on her Eda's own data such as deducing her favourite colour, like a mother teaches her daughter how to walk by making her walk on her own feet. One can imagine what such a program can do with all the data that is available online about each of the individual who have ever had a facebook page or have ever had an online bank account.The possibilities are endless.
The film is visually stunning and has its roots firmly placed in very thoughtful storytelling. Martinez's camera is beautifully composed and often cuts to the fine details like Eda watering her flowers in a spiral fashion or cutting her vegetables into a perfect arrangement. Edith Scob's performance finds its depth in her ability to be incredibly natural in front of the camera and her face just radiates intelligence. She is perfectly cast.
The future of science fiction cinema seems bright.
Guillaume Martinez's newest mid-length film "Nova Eva" is a very interesting film. Lasting just a bit over a half an hour, it makes its place alongside films like Primer (2004) in the new wave of science fiction cinema. Legendary French actress Edith Scob stars as the pivotal lead, professor Eda Baykan in a very commendable performance.
The film is set in the near future and finds it's premise in the Sensitive Artificial Intelligence or 'SAI' project. In the first third of the film we find that Eda Baykan (Scob) was one of the scientists working on the project to create a system of Artificial Intelligence that can feed itself "cycle after cycle" and create its own evolution. We also find that sometime prior to the events of the film, the project was abandoned due to the failure in achieving any sort of result. Eda Baykan is forced to re-visit the program after the death of one of her former colleagues who sends her a video-recorded message saying he might have found a way to make it work.
For the benefit of the film's upcoming screenings and to keep its charm alive, no further information will be revealed about the plot.
The underlying theme of the film is the concept of birth. Human beings evolved from simpler forms because of evolution and we are in the process of it as we speak. We often find the newest generation is faster and more intelligent that we were during our childhood. Director Martinez cleverly places the film in the near future and has a lot of shots featuring children playing in a playground. There is a great shot of a few children playing on a circular slide which could be a metaphor for the various "loops" that the programmers talk about and also for the "circle of life" theory. One can wonder that these children of the information age have never probably experienced activities like taking notes by hand or typing their own emails and that is where the point of the film lies.
"Eva" the program that was the center of the SAI project can be seen as Eda Baykan's child. She refers to the program as 'her' and provides an almost maternal attention to it. Over several of her conversations with Ravi Rushdie, her ex-colleague on the project, we learn the basis of the new theory she is working with. She applies logic such as "search and deduction" in place of "search and result" and "understanding" in place of "archiving".
In the first video conference with Rushdie, we meet his grandson who unknowingly interrupts the call. In essence, we see Rushdie the ancestor or the source and his grandson who is his descendant and thus, an updated version of Rushdie himself. The film has many of these visual metaphors.
Eda "teaches" Eva how to make deductions based on her Eda's own data such as deducing her favourite colour, like a mother teaches her daughter how to walk by making her walk on her own feet. One can imagine what such a program can do with all the data that is available online about each of the individual who have ever had a facebook page or have ever had an online bank account.The possibilities are endless.
The film is visually stunning and has its roots firmly placed in very thoughtful storytelling. Martinez's camera is beautifully composed and often cuts to the fine details like Eda watering her flowers in a spiral fashion or cutting her vegetables into a perfect arrangement. Edith Scob's performance finds its depth in her ability to be incredibly natural in front of the camera and her face just radiates intelligence. She is perfectly cast.
The future of science fiction cinema seems bright.
