‘The Artifice Girl’ Review: A Thought-Provoking Speculative Drama About AI Bait For Online Predators

variety.com:

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Artificial Intelligence has been increasingly in the news of late, with observers worried that it will soon become difficult for teachers to tell if students actually completed a project themselves (or a program did it for them), for anyone to recognize whether a supposed breaking evidential video is in fact a deepfake, and so forth. “The Artifice Girl,” however, frames the problems raised by ever-growing technological sophistication in a familiar narrative framework: that of the machine intelligence that begins to surpass its human “masters.”  Unlike portrayals from “2001” to “Ex Machina” and beyond, however, Franklin Ritch’s debut feature does not treat that dynamic in thriller terms, as a hostile takeover.

Instead, this smaller-scaled speculative fiction is more concerned with ethics, as pondered in a series of dialogue sequences that aren’t static but might also have worked on stage, and require nothing in the way of FX.

The results may not be what fantasy fans in need of action and spectacle are looking for. But Ritch’s film, which won the Best International Feature Audience Award at Fantasia last year, is engaging food for thought for viewers willing to let ideas rather than visuals fire up their futuristic imagination.

XYZ Films is releasing it April 27 to limited U.S. theaters, as well as on-demand and digital platforms. Unfolding in three chaptered sections, Ritch’s script begins with its longest setpiece. “Special agents” Deena (Sinda Nichols) and Amos (David Girard) have managed to get reluctant, resentful Gareth (played by the writer-director himself) to a drab basement room at the HQ for an international humanitarian organization.