Directed and written (additional writing credits going to Andre Bijelic and Graeme Manson) by canadian Vincenzo Natali, with a rather minamalist cast of...well unknowns really (Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, Andrew Miller, Wayne Robson, Maurice Dean Wint and David Hewlett), 'Cube' is a rather obscure film.
The basic storyline is: six strangers (a doctor, a cop, a maths student, an escapist, an autistic adult and a guy who works in an office) wake up in a giant cube within a maze of coloured square rooms. They have no food and no water, dehydration will kick in slowly causing: headaches, dizzyness, disorientation and confused mental process in less than 3 days. They can't remember how they got there or why they're in this cube, but they're determined to get out.
The film is only an hour and 30 mins long, but can often seem longer because of the amount of intense dialogue. This intenseness is continued by the film setting being so enclosed and having same peeps in the same location. 'Cube' is a mix of sci-fi, horror and psychological genres. The psychological aspects is particulary interesting, many human flaws are made clear and psychoanalyised. The number of conspiricy theories and approaches that are suggested to explain: what the cube is, who built it, why they're in it? etc.. The development of the group is another important aspect. They start out all the same, their clothing stripped and replaced with a standard prison like uniform. They dont know anything about each other only what they're told. Because of this when they all find out that one of them is a cop they instantly assign the job of leader to them. In society we trust and look to the police as authority figures, however they know nothing of the person, are they a good or bad person? Basically in the end its not the cube their fighting against its themeselves.
The traps within the cube are fantosstic, their technologically complex and produce severe results to those that come across them. For example, the opening scene demostrates the brilliant SFX work.
The soundtrack and background music is brilliant! Composed by Mark Korven, its just so creepy and eerie, it really helps to aid the tension and claustrophobia surrounding the scenes, with freaky echoy voices. Also the most effective tension building tool of all, silence, is used a masterful level. For example, when the group come across a sound activated room its just perfect silence in the background, unless the actors speak or make a noise you hear nothing and it really helps to build the tension to a nailbiting level.
This is a good psychologically scary film, well worth a peeky. |
