Exam (2009)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
White	Luke Mably	½
Dark	Adar Beck
Chinese Woman	Gemma Chan
Blonde	Nathalie Cox
Deaf	John Lloyd Fillingham
Black	Chukwudi Iwuji
Brunette	Pollyanna McIntosh
Brown	Jimi Mistry
The Invigilator	Colin Salmon

Review

If you liked films such as Cube or The Killing Room, here is a more reality-oriented version from British filmmaker Stuart Hazeldine. Eight candidates are seated for an exam to determine who will be elected for a sought-after job at a powerful medical corporation, but their assignment consists of nothing but an empty sheet of paper and a convoluted set of instructions from the invigilator. Together they must find out whether to cooperate or compete to first find and then answer their one and only question.

Exam has an interesting premise from a psychological point of view, but it soon becomes clear that the film steps into more traps than it avoids. Firstly, although Hazeldine is interested in the psychology of the situation and between the characters, it feels insulting that he uses either an annoying character or recurring flashbacks to explain every little insinuation or comment. He seems to think his film is more complex and clever than it is, because too many of the explanations to its mysteries will give you more a feeling of disappointment than a wow factor. There's potential in some under-explored areas, such as the nature of the Deaf character, but let's leave that for the follow-up...