Exam

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.

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 (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.

'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.

The film opened up giving me high hopes with an enjoyable slice of cinematography that is reminiscent of other films, however as I continued, bit by bit it chipped away my hopes for the film.

During the film rules are quickly set up, making it clear what the characters are able to do with a set of rules and not other outside rules apply. The characters act understandably at first but quickly just seem to ignore what any normal person would do, the characters are all established to be highly intelligent and also deductive but fail to take notice of blatantly obvious things. Characters also quickly establish themselves as arch types. The male characters are quickly shown to have clear personalities however many of the female characters seem to have had little written for them other then one being an information dispenser who for the majority of the film is just a robot. In general it is well acted however the actors seem to have been given both a poor script and directions.

Even with plot holes ignored and the ending, the film is largely just several strong archetypes having very simple mind games with each other. Several times during the film I was able to call out certain outcomes before they happened as the characters are highly predictable. Without my opinion of the awful story I would describe the film as a 4 out of 10 instead, however with it included I would say a 3.

Below is spoilers for the film and where most of the plot holes or just stupidity of the story is mentioned.

What was the answer to the question? Well there was only one question asked during which was "Any question" and so the answer "No" was correct. My eyes practically rolled out the sides of my head in grimace. The statement of there only being one question which can only be seen through two layers of glass with only two people wearing glasses in the room. Many of these plot holes are just a list of question but I feel ultimately show how the film only works because the characters are written to have it work rather then having any sort of understandable logic to it.

What was the purpose of hiding "Question 1." on the paper when they already said there was one question? Why make it so difficult to see? What would have happened if White stabbed Black in the eye with a pencil to kill him rather then man handling the guard to shoot him? Why would they destroy not only the lights but also the emergency lighting before checking the clock, one of the only clear objects in the room with two distinctive buttons? Were they meant to discover who Deaf was so they could tell him no? They were given no way to reply unless they knew as they were not allowed to communicate with the invigilator. Would Deaf be revealed at the end if they had all just waited and then expected to answer? How did everyone ignore deaf fiddling with the clock, if it did not at least draw attention should they at least be concerned about him messing up the test for them? What would have happened if anyone answered no to the question before the test started? Would it not count as the test had not started yet? Would they be removed for communication with the invigilator even while giving the correct answer?