Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 5 March 2020
Cerebral new FX series 'Devs' likely

to blow some minds

NEW YORK (AP) — The new company's campus. It's bit of a reputation as some-
FX series "Devs" may be set both adorable, odd, men- one who views the future
in the world of high tech, acing, creepy and inno- negatively, but that's not
but its creator is politely ask- cent — an unsettling excla- how he or Pill see it.
ing you to put yours down mation point for this ambi- "A lot of people make Alex
while checking it out. tious series. out to be a pessimist, and
Alex Garland wants you to The Hollywood Reporter I absolutely disagree with
choose to watch his show calls "Devs" " haunting and that notion," Pill says. Gar-
— really be present — not hypnotic, a show of mar- land also dismisses being
half-watch while fiddling row-seeping mood and a dystopian, saying "Devs" is
This image released by FX on Hulu shows Sonoya Mizuno in a with your phone. It's not unity of vision that carries about compassion: "There's
scene from the FX on Hulu techno-thriller series "Devs." that kind of show. through every frame." De- nothing misanthropic
Associated Press "If somebody was spend- cider calls it an " indisput- about the story. It's exactly
ing a lot of time sending ably stunning mystery." TV the opposite."
text messages or check- Insider cheered its " life-af- Garland reunited with
ing what's going on in the firming heart." many of the artists who
news on their phones while Sonoya Mizuno plays the made "Ex Machina" so ex-
watching the story, it would obvious heroine Lily, but to hilarating, including cin-
make very little sense," he paint the enigmatic tech ematographer Rob Hardy
says. giant boss played by Nick and production designer
Garland, who wrote and Offerman as the show's Mark Digby. Pill called Gar-
directed each episode, villain is to underestimate land a respectful collabo-
has a point: "Devs" is an Garland. rator, one who is open to
absorbing meditation on "The moral landscape of suggestions.
the very essence of human the story is much more "You might not expect that
existence and free will, all complicated than that," from these auteur type of
hidden in an elegant tech- Garland says. "People do guys. I've seen that play out
no-thriller. It's worth putting have mixed motivations. and it can be unpleasant,"
down your gizmo. They're not typically all she said. "This is something
The eight-part limited series good or all bad." that feels like such a com-
is available starting Thurs- If you detect a touch of munity. We all would hap-
day exclusively on FX on Steve Jobs in Offerman's pily join the cult if he ever
Hulu and centers on the character — a workaholic decided to start one."
character of Lilly, a young with a cult of personality The resulting series is a diz-
computer engineer work- and a genius-level mind — zying trip into Garland's
ing for a cutting-edge tech you're not wrong. Garland mind, one that mixes the
giant on a sprawling San is fascinated by the people poets Philip Larkin and W.
Francisco campus. behind the technology. B. Yeats, references to the
When Lilly's boyfriend disap- "In part, 'Devs' is concerned Kennedy assassination,
pears while working in the with the messianic quali- Marilyn Monroe and "Ju-
secretive Devs complex — ties that the bosses at tech rassic Park," and songs by
where the company plans companies seem to con- '70s rockers Free and John
its coolest developments tain," he says. "When I see Martyn. It's a strange trip
— Lilly investigates. Along a big product launch and indeed — and that's the
the way, Garland explores the enthusiastic audience, point.
quantum physics, deter- I think there is a lot that is "Something about stories,
minism and the laws of the church-like about that. It in a funny way, as they get
universe. Seriously. feels like a devotional exer- stranger, I think they get
"As the story was coming to cise." closer to our lived experi-
me, one of the things I kept Alison Pill, who plays the ence," he says. "Because,
thinking is: 'I don't know tech boss' top lieutenant, ultimately, whatever else it
how I could possibly tell this was a fan of "Ex Machina" is, it is very, very strange to
in a two-hour narrative,'" he and devoured all eight be alive." q
says. Embracing TV made "Devs" scripts within hours
sense: "It was unbelievably when they were sent. "Ev-
liberating from my point of erything that I sort of ex-
view." pected was upended," she
Fans of Garland's break- says.
through film "Ex Machina" Pill describes a rehearsal
will find familiar stylish fin- process for the series like
gerprints: Unrushed story- no other, including frank
telling, cool menace, el- discussions about the fun-
egant doses of philosophy, damental differences be-
an affinity with darkness tween waves and particles.
and stillness, profound mu- "When I say it's about ev-
sical choices and striking erything. It's about every-
visual effects. thing," she said, laughing.
One image clearly stands Garland's often sidelong
out: A gigantic statue of a glance at technology and
girl towering over the tech society have given him a