This film is a fantastic modern mystery, it has interesting characters, a simple premise and the faceless boss in charge of it all. The premise is this; eight people are locked in a room and made to sit an exam as a final part of their interview process, seemingly, whoever passes the exam gets a job, but all is not as seen.
A mystery like this relies on two aspects most of all, good acting and a solid script, ‘Exam’ contains parts of both. Most of the acting is good, some even very good but the occasional actor seems out of place or like they are trying too hard which in a film centralised around only eight people is exceedingly more noticeable than it would be in say, an action film.
The script suffers the same fate as the cast, most of the script is great, verging on fantastic, yet the odd inclusion of some aspects tend to boggle my mind, not because I didn’t understand them, just that I don’t understand why they would include that in the film.
Although this film had me very intrigued and invested in the outcome, it didn’t have me on the edge of my seat at all really and I guessed one of the “twists” within the first 20 minutes, but even so, that did not detract from how much I thoroughly enjoyed the film. This, I feel, speaks immeasurably to the films strengths.
This film is set in one, often times, dimly lit room but so many shots are absolutely stunning, it amazed me that a mystery/thriller, set in one room could look so gorgeous and the fact that, why would anyone want the film to look this beautiful considering the dark setting. It makes a beautiful, stark contrast from what the film is about to what it looks like and it just made me enjoy it that much more.
If you are a fan of mysteries then absolutely check this film out, however I would advise just sitting back and enjoying the ride as trying to guess what happens takes away from the overall experience, which is something this film should have accounted for but surprisingly doesn’t, which is a shame but as I said, doesn’t detract from how enjoyable this film is.
8/10