The Exit Room

In a future America, citizens have finally remembered that the reason they are allowed to bear arms is to be able to take them up against those that would seek to oppress them or rob them of their liberty. As a result mass uprisings have begun and the Government has responded in kind. Any sort of rebellion, whether it be with arms or information, is struck down and it is one such striking that we see as we join a journalist held in prison, tortured and ultimately being processed for state execution.

Although the credits inform me this is based on a famous short story, I confess to have never heard of it. The plot here is really done and dusted in the first few minutes as we see through videos on social media that citizens are rising up. Once this is established we move to the prison and from there it is a rather brutal experience with stress position torture followed by the callous execution (cattle style) of journalists. From this point forward it is very much about the depiction of this situation and the man's frantic attempts to escape and return to his wife and baby. The strength of the film is how engaging and brutal the film is when it comes to the scenes in the prison. The lead actor Abbott sells his terror and desperation and it is this that really convinces because he takes the viewer with him.

The construction of the film adds to this, with good pace and edited. The downside is that because there is limited narrative here, we perhaps aren't totally bought into the individual's goal and the desire to get home. The ending of the film loses this emotional hook as a result, but it is cleverly done because it yet again makes it about the brutality and cruelty of the scenario (the "pull out" of the camera achieves this) and thus the viewer is returned to what made the film strong in the first place. The weaknesses are there for sure but generally the film seems to know them and instead play to its strengths to the overall benefit of the piece. I liked it for what it did, even though I would have liked more of a story to be told to draw in the heart.

Sometimes , perhaps more frequently than I suggest , it helps that you go in to a film feature length or short knowing absolutely nothing about it whatsoever . I just read Bob's one line summary which was good enough for me and headed over to the short film website to watch THE EXIT ROOM . I never bother reading the write ups on the site since they subjectively praise the short no matter its qualities and often tend to read things in to that simply aren't there , which is the whole function of film criticism . After seeing the short I was somewhat surprised the write didn't name the source but that would have ruined the surprise at the end . I have seen the film adaptation of the story it's based on and instantly remembered it in the final scene of THE EXIT ROOM

This version gets off to an intriguing start . We're shown via a series of internet clips that America is waging a war - against itself and you're instantly reminded of Jihadists from Syria and Iraq . What is the cause of this conflict and the aims of the sides ? We're never told but you're grabbed by this scenario rather than frustrated which might have been a possibility . You also gets the impression there's an obvious comment being made on the war on terror . Apart from this there's not a massive amount of story but this is certainly deliberate because the story merely exists to set up the end . The longer the story goes on the more chance you have of feeling cheated when the ending is revealed . This is in effect an old story updated to a future scenario but one that is superiorly done

The Exit Room introduces us to Joseph, incarcerated in the not so distant future at a government run facility. What kind of government we don't know and are never told as Todd Wiseman throws us into the deep end within the minute when Joseph is mercilessly herded out of a cell and viciously chained up...so far, interesting. However, the story does not kick in here instead as the film continues we are taken through a run of the mill sequence with a couple of added elements for shock value but not story value. The lack of a story hurts this film and makes for a unsatisfactory ending. Christopher Abbot is certainly watch-able and has a cinematic presence however is let down by the material. What makes much of it worth watching is the editing, which is muscular and in parts clever even though there are a couple of points where the edit is unable sell the viewer on his/her suspension of disbelief. It's a 6 out of 10 for me because of Abbot and the editing.