British cinema usually boils down to three distinct factions: Danny Boyle, Noel Clarke and Mike Leigh.
It’s a shame to admit it, but if it isn’t a mediocre Indian drama dressed-up as ‘the feel-good film of the decade’, a streetwise yuff flick, or some depressing bafflement of funding, then it usually doesn’t get made.
It then comes with some genuine excitement that when a stripped-down intense thriller comes along, proving that we can provide nerve-shredding adrenaline fuelled cinema at its best.
Exam rooms are a pretty intense setting as it is – especially when you forget your pen. The problem is, even?if you had a pen in this room, someone will probably just try to stab you in the throat?with it.
The exam in question will decide who will get a job with a mysterious company, all of which seems highly desirable in this?dystopian vision of Britain'that is only hinted at and described at the beginning of the film?as ‘soon’.
Within this grey cell?wait eight candidates, all a prestigious bunch of self-assured brown-noses, resembling a high-class set of Apprentice contestants. All apparently handpicked for their diverse backgrounds -?and by diverse backgrounds we mean a collection of the most oddly aggravating accents put?on celluloid.
As a slight homage to Reservoir Dogs, these prize pricks are all given code names by the alpha-male of the group, White. So, with White, Black, Brown, Deaf, Blonde, Brunette, Dark and the one we’ve forgotten already, it becomes a large dot-to-dot puzzle, filling in the blanks of these?shadowy individuals.
Restricting itself to the one setting, an?illusive room, simplistically futuristic and holds as much mystery as the people who are within it. Without spoiling the story, these applicants delve deeper into their surroundings to find out the one answer they need. KFC runs a similarly rigorous interview process.
Everything remains a mystery from start to finish: the past, the present and the future. Each tiny morsel of information propels the story forward at such a pace that it becomes a unique experience in taut direction that has shades of Hitchcockian ease.
Stuart Hazeldine directs with confidence, breathing life into concrete. If there is a failing, it’s that claustrophobia never creeps in, something that would had added some much needed urgency towards the climax. It’s a minor niggle, and the tiny torture chamber holds enough secrets to keep the audience guessing until the timer runs out.
The real test for this film is yet to come, given that it’s a low budget British movie, featuring a cast where the biggest name is Jimi Mistry and refuses to feature gangsters or Danny Dyer. If you do brave Exam, you’ll find yourself coming out aces.
Torture, mind games and that all important question, all wrapped up in a low-budget British indie? As a great newspaper once said, it sounds like the feel-good film of the decade.
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