Caradog W. James

The technological advancement witnessed in the fabrication of robots of all kinds has been extraordinary over the past few decades. What appeared as far fetched and clearly ahead of its time in the 1980s and 1990s is commonplace today. Film has often tackled the issue of high-tech progression in several sci-fi related genres, from schlocky horror to high minded psychological drama. With The Machine, Writer-director Caradog W. James puts his spin on a familiar if endlessly fascinating topic of machines replicating human behaviour.

The Machine wins right out of the gate by mentioning Alan Turing and his Turing Test in the context of a sci-fi thriller. Turing became one of the fathers of modern computing during World War II thanks to his engineering efforts on the side of the Allies, and his Turing Test measures whether a computer can dupe a human being into believing that it is human. The Machine starts by imagining a computer which is capable of passing the Turing Test, raising stakes that are realistically grounded and immense for the future of mankind.