El examen

Eight people with various skills are brought to a room to vie for a job in a powerful corporation. The Invigilator lays out the task for the group to be completed within 80 minutes. Each person sits at a desk with a piece of paper with the word Candidate and a number. The group struggles to cooperate to find out what the question even is. As each attempt fails, the group turns on each other.

This is a high concept mystery thriller written by Stuart Hazeldine and Simon Garrity, and directed by Hazeldine. It's a compelling watch and a real puzzler. It's a real tight thriller inside one room. In the end, the resolution is a little bit disappointing and a letdown. With a great puzzle, the solution can elevate the whole movie with its inventiveness. This solution is more of a cheat.

Exam (2009)

What a bizarre movie. It's so beautifully filmed, almost virtuosic in its use of focus and close up and light, you almost forget that the plot is a highly contrived package of clever ideas. When you do think about the plot, and the various holes that open up in the logic of it, you are almost forced to enjoy it for the visuals. And for the acting, which has some real high points.

You also marvel at how the entire movie is shot in a single room (with a glimpse of hallway a few times). I suppose you might bow to the film's makers for pulling off so much with so little. The result is intelligent and a little bit suspenseful at its best moments. When it begins it is absolutely fascinating, from the opening scenes establishing the characters to the first laying out of the rules (although there is a drama that reminded me for some reason of "Deal or No Deal" at its tackiest). Then some of the characters break out of the futurist mode and we have normal people vying to win the game, the contest to be hired by the mysterious health products company behind the scenes. (This part will remind everyone of a stylized and a bit false seeming "The Apprentice" even to the point that you might wish for a Donald Trump to appear from behind the dark screen and prod them along.)

By the end, I think most people will either be a bit tired of it all, or mostly incredulous. It pulls out lots of tricks, and we are inevitably a little surprised by the final turns of events. But I'm not sure it lives up to the high standards set at the start. Get sucked in, sure, but be prepared to stick it out with effort.

This is a low budget but pretty ingenious thriller that unfortunately doesn't quite pay off at the end.

8 candidates are at the last hurdle of an application process and find themselves setting an unusual exam whereby one candidate will get the job. The film is set up nicely as you get to know each of the candidates. Most of them are pretty unlikeable and based on caricatures, in fact it is like watching an episode of The Apprentice at times.

The acting is mostly just adequate though I thought Chukwudi Iwuji as Black was excellent.

The film keeps you watching as you try and second guess the outcome but the ending is pretty disappointing. A more worthy ending to an intriguing film would have meant this rated much higher. However this is worth a watch and it deserves some credit for trying something different.

"Exam" is a one-room movie that explores the human psyche. It's a "What Would You Do?" on steroids.

Eight applicants are put into a room with 80 minutes to answer the one exam question, except there's no question seen on their exam sheets. They have to follow three simple rules or else they're disqualified:

1.) Don't spoil your paper.

2.) Don't try to communicate with the guard or the invigilator

3.) Don't voluntarily leave the room.

With these three known rules the test-takers began dissecting their environment around them as well as each other (figuratively) in order to find out what the one question is so they can give the one answer. It was both tense and annoying. You already know at least one character is going to grate your nerves, and in this case just about every character grated my nerves. Still, I was intrigued and I wanted to see the movie through to the end.

'Exam' is one of those movies that looks smarter than it actually is. The plot is intriguing, but all the details doesn't quite add up. We are given the presumption that all the characters are unique and highly intelligent, yet their actions seem to speak otherwise. Besides the information they say, they don't show any unique skills why they were chosen for this particular test. I can say that the characters were little bit shallow, and poorly developed. The story itself delves into already familiar territory of psychological games and plot twists of 'mind bending movies'. The writers took too big bite and weren't clever enough for themselves to really surprise the 'seen a lot' viewer. Nonetheless, the movie manages to attract and then keep the viewer's attention. Acting is hammy at spots but the pacing is fine and the atmosphere is consistent. The directing is good and one can say, that the visuals are quite stylish.

'Exam' is nothing to get overly excited for, but it is consistent and entertaining enough. 'Turn of your brain' type of movie for a thinking person.