‘Artificial’ Review: Luca Gaudagnino Has Made the Real Sequel to ‘The Social Network’ — a Brain-Spinning Tech-Geek Docudrama, Brilliantly Acted by Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov

Oct 5, 2026 8:41pm PT ‘Artificial’ Review: Luca Gaudagnino Has Made the Real Sequel to ‘The Social Network’ — a Brain-Spinning Tech-Geek Docudrama, Brilliantly Acted by Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov

It charts the invention and corporate rise of AI, taking off from the cathartically topical question: If we don't control AI, who will?

By Owen Gleiberman

Plus Icon

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

@OwenGleiberman

Latest

• ‘A Statement’ Review: Just What We Need Right Now — Another Movie About Climate Change! But Tom McCarthy’s Historically Based Talkfest Reveals How Much We Knew in 1980 2 days ago
• ‘Behemoth!’ Review: Pedro Pascal Is a Classical Cellist Skating Through a Midlife Crisis in Tony Gilroy’s Elevated Bauble of a Music Drama 3 days ago
• ‘Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall’ Review: Paul Thomas Anderson Directs a Rapturous Solo Concert Movie Built Around the Songs — and Haunting Sound — of Cameron Winter 4 days ago

See All

Courtesy of NYFF

Moviegoers will be thrilled to hear that the 2026 fall movie season brings with it a fantastic sequel to “The Social Network.” But I’m not talking about “The Social Reckoning” — Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to “The Social Network” (out this Friday), which continues the saga of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg by hanging the yoke of blame on him for everything that’s wrong with social media. No the real sequel to “The Social Network” is “Artificial,” Luca Guadagnino’s sprawling, enthralling, brain-spinning drama about the creation of artificial intelligence. (It had its world premiere tonight at the New York Film Festival.)

Related Stories

‘Angh’ Review: Toronto's Platform Award Winner Is a Lush Lament for an Indian Tribe in the 1960s