Exam (2009)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258197/
Director: Stuart Hazeldine Script: Simon Garrity, Stuart Hazeldine
Runtime: 101min
Cast: Luke Mably, Colin Salmon, Nathalie Cox, Adar Beck Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Tagline: How far would you go to win the ultimate job?

Interested in an intriguing, mysterious and suspenseful psychological thriller? This one’s about an above ordinary competition for a job at a prestigious and powerful corporation shrouded in mystery. In eighty minutes, eight candidates have to find the correct answer for a seemingly inexistent question and prove their qualification for the job.

A single room provides the setting, where the exam takes place. The whole movie is like a game, a puzzle in need of solving; and there are few clues for the participants; everything is up to their cleverness to speculate. The details shown in the beginning, as the candidates are preparing for the exam, are not random images. The person of authority, called the Invigilator - impersonated by a tall black figure - is very convincing. Right in the beginning after he presents all the constraints and rules of the exam, you kind of get the idea that this is serious business. The words of the Invigilator are repeated in B&W flashbacks, whenever the case, which is a nice touch. But characters are faced with a problem, which is asked a lot during the movie: what is the question? They must decide whether to cooperate or confront each other. Do they work as a team, or is every man for himself? I also found it clever the fact that they did not reveal their names to each other; instead they devised names based on major racial divisions and other visual criteria. So, there is a lot of speculation and as a viewer you speculate together with the characters of the movie, which makes it a sort of brainstorming in trying to figure out what the cuss is actually required of them. Gradually, more and more facts and details are unveiled, but that doesn’t exactly simplify matters as you’d expect. Each candidate has a past, a secret agenda and a set of convictions. As they get to know more about each other, so does the viewer and so do matters get complicated and out of control. Out of the eight applicants, only one will prove fit for the job; all others will be disqualified. How and why? Watch and see.

The touch of science fiction at the end was clever and unlike I had expected they didn’t spoil the movie with some dull ending. Considering how low budget this film was, with unknown actors and all, I think it really managed to stand out. Want to sit on the edge of your seat and use your brain to solve a puzzle? Then this movie is what you are looking for; it maintains curiosity and suspense right up until the end.