Autómata (8 out of 10) Directed by Gabe Ibáñez; written by Gabe Ibáñez, Igor Legarreta, Javier Sánchez Donate; starring Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Dylan McDermott; rated R (violence, language and some sexual content); in limited release and on VOD; running time: 109 minutes.
I have several soft spots when it comes to movies. These are the kinds of movies that I readily default to feeling positive and supportive about. Smart Sci-fi is one of them, and ambitious low-ish budget filmmaking is another (we won’t go into how much I love schlocky cheapos right now). “Autómata” is both (the first two).
At an estimated production budget of approximately $15M, Director Gabe Ibáñez and his crew smartly create a real feeling world, one that is in fast decline, but not completely gone. They take what are stock locations in Asylum/SyFy type productions and dress them up and shoot them in a way that makes them feel more than just old abandoned industrial warehouse space.
The movie follows Jacq Vaucan (played by the still active and committed Antonio Banderas), an insurance investigator for a Robotics Company. His job is to dig into claims against the company when their product malfunctions. Their product being Robots.
All robots follow two prime type protocols; they cannot harm humans or allow humans to harm themselves, and they cannot alter or repair themselves. So most of his cases involve people trying to scam the company by blaming their robot servants. Until he stumbles upon a case that isn’t as easily resolved; reports of a robot that has been self-repairing.
And from there the story starts to go deep as it shows the last gasps of a dying species, while a new life form is fighting to step out of the ooze and start their lives.
The production design is spare and convincing. This is a gritty, decaying, sweaty world with real sadness underneath. A world with a touch of desperation under its tired skin. A world that has given up on living. It is the world of “Bladerunner” come to real life. It is full of acid rain at night, heat and dust during the day. The people are all fully realized. This is a well thought out society, and so much is gotten across just by implication, without having to explain it with clumsy exposition heavy dialogue.
As the story opens up and the smart robots become less of a plot device, we really get to see that, as characters, the robots are as fully realized as the people, Not quite human, but evocative enough that you can see the inspiration, even while they are becoming something completely else and new.
“Autómata”, in a general sense, shares a lot of broad theme similarities to the big dumb Will Smith Actioner “I, Robot”. Except it knows what it is talking about, whereas “I, Robot” was just an excuse to stage some CG car chases and a dizzying finale on top of a sky scraper. “Autómata” is what “I, Robot” could only dream about being – a smart, sparse, sophisticated character drama about the advent of AI and what happens next, with enough tensions and conflict to make the stakes feel important.
I don’t think it is for everybody, but if you have an abiding interest in smart science fiction, the singularity, AI, and the eventual fall of man as a dominating intelligence, then this is certainly worth your time.
“Have you ever considered just how fortunate you are?”