Complete A-Z list


Exam

5/10

Stars: Luke Mabry, Jimi Mistry, Nathalie Cox, Pollyanna McIntosh, Colin Salmon, Adar Beck

Director: Stuart Hazeldine

Eight people apply, or are head-hunted for a prestigious job with a pharmaceutical company. They find themselves in a sparsely furnished room for an exam. On their tables: one blank sheet of paper. The stern invigilator (Salmon) tells them there's one question and one answer. They have to work it out in 80 minutes.

They are disqualified if they: choose to leave the room; speak to the armed guard; or spoil their papers in any way. When one (Gemma Chan) starts writing on her sheet of paper, she is immediately thrown out.

The others, led by the cocky 'White' (Mabry) try various ploys to 'see' things on their papers. They smash the lights to bring on emergency, then ultra-violet and infra-red lights. Nothing. They make the sprinklers in the ceiling come on in case the paper is photographic (wouldn't that constitute spoiling the papers?). Inevitably, this being the kind of film it is, things escalate into violence, torture and even murder,

Quite watchable for the most of its length, the film unfortunately leaves us with more questions than answers, which is ultimately frustrating, The acting's a bit on the sticky side, the best being Mistry's 'Brown' and McIntosh's 'Brunette'. But none of them can convince us that this is really how people would behave under similar circumstances.

David Quinlan

UK 2009. UK Distributor: Independent. Technicolor/Colour by deluxe.
96 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 03 Jan 2010