The Magic of a Single Room

              

Image from the Internet

          Gone are the days when a movie ceased to be worth watching  if it lacked a string of picturesque settings, action packed scenes with an inferno of automobiles shooting up in the air and coming toppling over each other, sunglasses - sporting heroes displaying their enviable gun handling tactics and glamorous heroines stealing the show. After watching two movies, 'The Man from Earth' and 'Exam', I recently discovered a liking  for a new genre of movies which, even though shot in just a single room, with very ordinary people and absolutely no stunts or automobiles to show off with, manages to captivate the viewer just as any other movie, sometimes even a tad bit more. No voice overs dripping with sentimentality and nostalgia, just plain footages which focus on the dialogues and performance of the actors. 

           Mind you, you do need to have a flawless auditory reception to be able to make the most of such a film. An attention to detail is crucial, on the part of the producer as well as that of the viewer. The effects of every single line spoken by a character, every minuscule action of the protagonist are multiplied manifold due to the sheer confinement to a single room. Much like, when one is sitting in a quiet room, every small detail, whether it is the spider crawling slyly up the wall or more infamously, mysterious sounds at night, assume heightened proportions in the senses. No wonder that old mansions make an excellent setting for horror films. The claustrophobic setting seems to be a character by itself, infusing the horror component into the film.

         Just in case you haven't seen the aforementioned two movies, let me give you a brief overview of  both. 'Exam' is the story of eight candidates in an exam hall, who are competing for a position in an enigmatic  company. However, when they open their question papers, all of them find to their bewilderment that each one of the papers is completely blank. Any attempt to communicate with the invigilator or leave the room will disqualify them. So which of them will be able to find the correct question and the correct answer to make it to the post? And more importantly, till what extent is each of them ready to go to, to be the chosen one? Totally engaging, the eighty minute duration of the exam has the viewer riveted onto the screen, with the suspense gradually building up with every passing minute. Not wanting to give anything away, I just want to mention that the movie is a deep exploration of human interaction and psychology, testing the mind under conditions of stress and duress, and various types of human personalities.

        'The Man from Earth' has some elements of a discourse on immortality and its implications, when the protagonist decides to have his share of fun telling his peers during a farewell gathering that 'his time to move on had come' , since he had been alive since the prehistoric ages, and he had progressed his way from a caveman to a modern man, shifting every now and then to avoid being identified. He claims to have met the Buddha, Christopher Columbus and other eminent personalities. His friends do not believe him at first, but we can see the transition in their credulity as the protagonist unfolds his extra ordinary skill of story-telling. Things take an ugly turn when the protagonist claims to have been Jesus Christ himself and that he had never really died on the cross, he had just escaped. A pious lady calls him blasphemous and another man attempts to kill him out of envy for his self proclaimed 'immortality'. This gives a chance to analyze our own feelings about immortality. Do we really want it or would we rather live a normal lifetime? The movie seems to be a prank gone all wrong, but surprising events unravel at the climax, which takes place right at the ending. 

        These single room movies, apart from being very low budget or shoestring budget movies, give the viewer an extremely rich experience. The lack of variety in setting  is more than compensated by the saga of emotions and thoughts that the movie provokes in the viewer, an ultimate treat for the senses. Whether it shows a battle of wits in a court or murder scene, or one in which a few people are stuck in an elevator with the devil apparently amongst them, they all exhibit great talent of acting and directing. And most of them prove to be goosebumps- producing thrillers as well, which can put to shame many higher budget block busters. I am surely going to watch a few more of these if I can. IMdb can help me out on this . Here is the link for those of you whose interest I have managed to garner through this article. http://www.imdb.com/list/sVai-UOL6Ow/  . These movies are probably the quintessence of  'Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication' .