Review of Cube (1998) by Anssi V — 11 Jun 2013

It's great when film makers are willing to take chances with their premise, to truly step outside the norms of reality and invent something that could never exists - well, almost never. The premise of this film could technically exist today. You could be knocked out one day and then wake up in a cubic metal room with six doors, one on each surface, with no idea where you are, where to go or even why you are there. You won't, but you could and you're able to imagine what that would be like. It's an extreme situation where the horrors and wonders of human kind will be unleashed, and that's the beauty of this film. It's a fascinating character study of people but into a situation that none of them ever expected, but which has become a reality for them.

The film is able to carry its story through mood and tone alone. The use of lighting, shadows and colours masterfully strengthens the claustrophobic atmosphere and the illusion of walls closing in. Add in the grinding sound effects, the heavy breathing and the whispered dialogues and you have a setting that's impossible to escape. You, the viewer, are in the Cube, along with its inmates.

Probably the only thing holding this movie back is the fact that while it has a very imaginative premise, nothing definitive is said about the human condition. The inmates will panic, they will flee, they will triumph, only to fail again, and so on, but the final point of all this is never reached. Why was this story told? What did the film makers try to convey? In the end, I'm not sure, but at the same time I don't really care. The journey alone was more than enough, even if the final goal was kind of vague.

Any fan of thrillers and psychological horror should see this film. It's an intense experience and capable of transporting you outside of your everyday life, into an unbearable situation from which there seems to be no escape.