A.I. Rising aka Ederlezi Rising

Director: Lazar Bodrosa 

Screenplay: Dimitrihe Vojnov

Minutes: 85

Year: 2019

Score: 7.40

Release: Lionsgate DVD

Someone asked me if A.I. Rising was an Ex Machina rip-off. In some ways, maybe. But my first thought was that AI Rising is a modern marriage of Solaris and 2001. There is a trigger warning for rape and it should be noted that this is a hard R, provocative, film.

From Letterboxd: 

On a lonely mission to Alpha Centauri, Milutin is teamed up with Nimani 1345, a female cyborg designed to fulfill his every need. At first thrilled to be able to control her, Sebastian grows tired of having his desires fulfilled so easily. Longing for human intimacy, Sebastian alters Nimani’s programmed responses, but in doing so he risks the mission’s security — and his own life.

While watching a documentary about one of my favorite writers one of the talking heads was named Stoya, and the documentary listed her profession as Adult Film Star. The context was peculiar and while erotica may be Stoya’s original claim to fame it was her writing which caught my attention.

Stoya has bylines all over the place and has helped me to better understand the complexity of artists. At the point in my journey, when I watched the documentary, I had already understood how writers and actors, anyone who could be idolized, is much more than their craft. Stoya, with a few others, helped me to fully realize this, as well as the fact that sex work is just that, work. Since there is still a stigma against their job, while we, as an audience, fetishize them, and fantasize about them, we often have to do so privately and, sometimes, shamefully.

Stoya is one of the voices that has made me a little more comfortable with acknowledging the person beyond the performer. There is a whole philosophical essay about how society has programmed us to separate us, but that’s another bop. It was the person of Stoya which has captivated me. She never hid that sex was a part of the story, when she was cast as an AI robot companion, it is part of the inciting incident if the film, and it is the shame of raping a robot that forms the story.

In AI Rising a man, Milutin, is given a job to do for which only one human is needed, but the corporation is also providing an AI robot companion, Nimani 1345, to assist the man in any way he sees fit. It isn’t the loneliness of the journey that stimulates the man, but the knowledge that he essentially will be trapped on a long journey with a sex-bot.

After the rape the man learns that Nimani is also maintaining an internal log to help the company get a better understanding of their users. The man recognizes his shameful act and puts the mission at risk to, essentially, clear his browser history.

Someone asked me if the movie was like an Ex Machina rip-off. In some blind, high level, ways, maybe it is. But my first thought was that AI Rising is a modern marriage of Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a human drama about love and loneliness in a culture where data collection and aggregation are worth more than money. It is a story about how far we will go to hide something that is already known because of a pre-programmed shame. After the assault Nimani tells Milutin that rape is expected and that he should essentially be proud that it took him longer than expected. The film is layered and interesting and looks much more expensive than I expect it was.

People interested in the film through Stoya’s adult film career they will likely shut it off quickly because the intensity of the emotional context will be off putting. I suspect that the majority of cinephiles may not see the film the same way I did, which, of course, is fine, but I would hope that they might see through the minor imperfections to see the bright, shining, soul hidden in the film.

I wish the film was released on Blu-ray, rather than DVD, but that is just who I am. I do appreciate that there is a physical release in any format though. Considering this, though, I was glad to see that special features were included on the release. The deleted scenes were properly excised from the film but offer a little bit more. The Behind the Scenes featurette, along with the interview are interesting and add some interesting insight into Stoya’s experience.

Overall this is a specialized release which I don’t expect to sell well, but I would hope that comparing this independent film to Tarkovsky and Kubrick may make you more apt to taking a chance on it.

Special Features:

• Behind the Scenes video
• Deleted Scenes
• Interview with Stoya

Director: 8 – Cinematography: 7 – Edit: 6 – Parity: 4 – Main performance: 10 – Else performance: 5 – Score: 10 – Sound: 5 – Story: 9 – Script: 7 – Effects: 8 – Design: 8 – Costumes: 4 – Keeps interest: 10 – Lasting: 10