Exam [2009] (English) - an intricate puzzle and a psychological thriller

8 candidates prepare for the final round of an extremely lucrative job opportunity. The recruitment is supposed to be for a very high post in a very big company. An opportunity worth dying for. An opportunity worth killing for.

The exam hall is a single closed room, with no windows, a single door, a guard besides it, 8 desks and chairs and 8 question papers, one for each candidate. The invigilator sets forth a set of rules: they cannot communicate with the guard or the invigilator at any time. They cannot leave the room for any reason. And they should not spoil their own question paper. There is one question. And one answer is required. The invigilator starts a timer. They have 80 minutes to give the correct answer. Then the invigilator leaves the room. Each candidate opens the question paper. Each of the paper is blank...

So starts the quest for the question. And the correct answer. At first its a very intriguing puzzle. But as the time begins to run out, the pressure increases. Which candidates will snap under pressure? Which ones will manage to find the right answer? What is the right answer? But before that, what is the question? This is what forms the heart of the movie. This is what fuels it, grabs the audience by the collar and hardly ever lets go...

What I liked about this movie was its entirely original premise. The idea is unique. Who would have thought of making a movie based on a recruitment process for a big job opportunity? It thankfully refrains from using the age old spices of love, action, romance, murder, etc. Which makes it a refreshing watch. There is mystery and suspense. Its a puzzler, which reminds me of movies like Cube and Fermat's Room. Just like the Cube, it not only entertains by making the audience use their grey cells as they get absorbed in the puzzle, but also explores the human psyche.

Somewhere in between the movie seems to veer off from the path that one might have expects. For, it starts off as an intriguing and intricate puzzle and then turns into a psychological thriller where it explores the impact of pressure on human psyche. How a situation of stress and pressure can bring out the best or the worst in people. And how some people would go to any lengths when the stakes are high enough for them.

And the climax comes with a twist that you would never have anticipated. Some of the ideas in the movie, like how each of the candidates came to know about the job opening, may sound a bit half-baked. And some of them, for example the explanations at the end, may sound a bit far fetched and fantastic. And yet it manages to keep it all as realistic as possible, refraining from taking unnecessary leaps of fantasy.

The movie is a single room drama, where the entire story takes place within a single room. Which shows the talent of the co-writer and director Stuart Hazeldine, to be able to make the entire story work within such a limited location / set.

The camera work is pretty impressive too. Many aspects of the story are narrated very well by intuitive visuals. It exemplifies the rule that visuals can express better and are more powerful than words.

The acting ranges from very good to mediocre. I especially liked the acting of the candidates who are referred to as "white", and "dark" in the movie.

The characters are neither too shallow, nor too intricately sketched. But each character's personality is portrayed with enough details to fit the requirements of the story.

The movie will not afford you easy entertainment. It will demand your brain power. It will make you think. If you don't mind that, then its certainly worth watching at least once.

My Ratings: 3.5

Cube [1997] (English) - A puzzle more intricate than Mr Rubik could ever imagine

It is difficult to imagine a movie without the spicy elements of action, adventure, romance, omnipotent heroes, deadly villains. And yet, imagine a film that has a puzzle as its central driving force. Actually, a series of puzzles...

Imagine you wake up in an unknown room. The last thing you remember is doing something ordinary in an ordinary and familiar environment, like your home or your work-place. And the next thing, you wake up in this room. Its a medium-sized room. A cube-shaped one. All painted uniformly with a single colour. Each wall has a little hatch at its center. Ladders lead towards the hatch from up, as well as down. Hand-holds on the ceiling to access the one there. You go and open a hatch. it leads to another cube-shaped room. Albeit, with a different-coloured lights / walls. Each hatch opens up in another cube-shaped room.

Where are you? How did you come here? How do you get out? Why are you here? What is this place? How do you get out of here? And while you are trying to figure that out, you better watch your step. For some some of these rooms may hold unpleasant surprises...

This is the puzzle of the cube. It starts with a set of strangers trapped in a series of cube-shaped rooms. How did they get here? What is this place? Who built it? What is its purpose? Why were they brought here like this? How big is this place anyway? And where the heck is it? The movie does not complicate itself in order to explain away these conundrums. Though, the characters engage in rational discussions while they try to figure out what exactly is going on. As the story progresses, they try to contemplate on some rational possibilities to these questions. And their probable conclusions are revealing, intellectual, profound and rational.

There are no heroes and no villains here. No known heroes at least, and no known villains. Just a bunch of strangers in a race against time to solve puzzles of the cube - that's what fuels the pace of the movie. And finally, it is a revealing exploration of how humans react under pressure, exhaustion and desperation...

It does not explore the past lives of the characters much. Nor does it add unnecessary emotions and romance. Yet the personality of each character is plausibly well defined as the movie progresses.

The pace of the movie never slackens. Every few minutes, we are treated with new revelations about the intricate puzzles of the Cube. And though the movie purposefully does not clutter it plot to answer some of the questions about the purpose and existence of the Cube, it does end with a satisfactory, if a bit unexpected climax.

Its a well-thought of movie, that may not have achieved financial success, but, over the years, has become a cult classic. To this day, it remains one of my favourite movies in the puzzle genre (not that there are many movie to appear under this genre - unfortunately).

If you like movies with a bit more brain and a bit less spice in them, an unusual and unique concept and rational plot-line, then you will certainly enjoy this one, the same way I did.

My Ratings: 4