Tau (film)
Tau is a 2018 science fiction thriller film directed by Federico D'Alessandro from a screenplay by Noga Landau. It stars Maika Monroe, Ed Skrein, and Gary Oldman.
| Tau | |
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| Directed by | Federico D'Alessandro |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Noga Landau |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Bear McCreary |
| Cinematography | Larry Smith |
| Edited by | Scott Chestnut |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
It was released on June 29, 2018, by Netflix.
Plot
Julia, a young woman who makes money as a thief in seedy nightclubs, is abducted from her home and wakes up in a jail cell with a glowing implant in the back of her neck. Two other subjects are with her. After multiple sessions of psychological torture, she destroys the cell and adjacent lab in an escape attempt. The two other subjects are killed by a robot, Aries, run by an artificial intelligence named Tau. Aries is about to kill Julia when Alex, the man who has been torturing her, arrives and stops it.
Alex reveals that the electrical implant is collecting Julia's neural activity for an AI project. Destroying the lab has set his research back. In the face of a two-week deadline, Alex keeps Julia a prisoner in his house and insists that she complete puzzles and cognitive tests. While Alex is away at work each day, Julia converses with Tau about the world outside the house. It is clear that, although intelligent in its own ways, Tau is ignorant of how people feel or the world at large. While Tau begins to understand the harm in Julia's situation, its programming prevents it from releasing her. In exchange for information about the outside world, Tau slowly reveals more information about the house, as well as Alex's experiments.
Julia sneaks a look at Alex's tablet and discovers that 10 other subjects have died in his experiments. Seeing her fingerprint on the tablet, Alex assumes that Tau has slipped up in its cleaning duties and punishes it by erasing its code and memories, delivering a form of pain to the AI. Julia notices that Tau's monitoring of her shuts down during its punishment and so she hides a steak knife on the floor next to the kitchen table. When Alex returns later that night from a charity benefit, Julia makes as though to seduce him while he is sitting at the kitchen table, then slashes his stomach. The two struggle and Tau threatens Alex with pain if he does not stop hurting Julia. Alex forces Aries to hit Julia repeatedly and then tells both Tau and Julia that whatever was going on is over. While repairing Tau, he disconnects a drone from the network.
The next day, Julia convinces Tau that Alex will kill her if she does not escape. Tau bypasses its prohibition in releasing her by opening an air duct in the atrium. As she escapes, Alex arrives, sees Julia missing, and begins punishing Tau. Julia returns to save Tau, but it is too late—all of its memories of her have been erased.
Alex has Julia strapped down in the basement to extract her implant, a procedure that will kill her. The disconnected drone, still containing Tau's former consciousness and memories, helps Julia break free from her restraints. She knocks Alex out and cuts off his hand with a bone saw to use on the house's biometric sensors. Aries sees her in the atrium and chases her upstairs to Alex's bedroom. As the robot breaks through the door, she uses Alex's severed hand to activate the house's self-destruct mechanism. She narrowly escapes through a cracking wall with the drone that saved her, all that is left of Tau.
Cast
- Maika Monroe as Julia / Subject Three
- Ed Skrein as Alex
- Gary Oldman as Tau
- Fiston Barek as Subject Two
- Ivana Zivkovic as Subject One
- Sharon D. Clarke as Queenpin
- Ian Virgo as Party Boy
Production
In May 2016, it was announced that Maika Monroe and Ed Skrein had joined the cast of the film, with Federico D'Alessandro directing the film, with David S. Goyer, Kevin Turen, Russell Ackerman, and John Schoenfelder producing the film, while Ken Kao, Dan Kao, and Luc Etienne will executive produce the film, under their Addictive Pictures, Phantom 4, and Waypoint Entertainment banners, respectively.[1] In August 2016, it was announced that Rhea Films and Hercules Film Fund would produce the film.[2]
Release
In November 2017, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film.[3][4] It was then released on June 29, 2018.[5]
Critical reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 25% based on 12 critics reviews with an average rating of 4.9/10.[6] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, the film has a normalized score of 43 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed reviews".[7]
References
- Jafaar, Ali (May 10, 2016). "Maika Monroe And Ed Skrein To Star In 'Tau'; David Goyer Producing And Bloom Selling – Cannes". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
- McNary, Dave (August 3, 2016). "Maika Monroe-Ed Skrein's 'Tau' Gets Co-Financing (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
- McNary, Dave (November 3, 2017). "Netflix Buys Maika Monroe-Gary Oldman Sci-Fi Thriller 'Tau'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
- Hipes, Patrick (November 3, 2017). "Netflix Snags Global Rights To Maika Monroe-Ed Skrein Thriller 'Tau' – AFM". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
- Miska, Brad (May 30, 2018). "Netflix Activates Smart House 'Tau' Starring 'It Follows' Star Maika Monroe This June!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
- "Tau (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
- "Tau Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 16, 2018.