Creating robots seems to be the easiest part in sci-fi that deals with artificial intelligence; deciding whether or not robots have emotional intelligence is another issue altogether. Films have been dealing with the issue of A.I., in one way or another, for many long years, and recently we seem to have renewed interest in the issue. In addition to films like Chappie and Ex Machina, the A.I. movie Eva will come to American screens this year and bring with it yet another rumination on the nature of robotics and humanity.
Daniel Bruhl is Alex, a cybernetic engineer in an alternative year 2014, who returns to his home of Santa Irene to attempt to engineer a child robot for the Robotics Faculty, and make the robot complete with emotional intelligence. He once more comes into contact with his brother David and David’s wife Lana, and for the first time makes the acquaintance of their child, Eva. Eva and Alex have an immediate connection, though the little girl also appears to have questions about the reasons for her uncle’s departure ten years before.
The trailer for Eva establishes a world somewhat reminiscent of I, Robot: a future that is believable but also, well, futuristic. While I hesitate to predict the source of Eva and Alex’s “special connection,” there are really only a few revelatory options available in a film such as this. I hope for Eva‘s sake that there are more twists than the most predictable ones.
Eva has actually been out in Europe since 2011, so it has taken a very long time to come to the United States even in the form of a limited release. Still, it’s better late than never, and hopefully it will prove to be worth the wait.
Eva will hit screens on March 13. You can check out some images from the film below, and the trailer above.
