Fermat's Room (2007)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Doing the Math

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Fermat's Room is one of those movies like House on Haunted Hill, in which a group of strangers is invited to a mysterious gathering for nefarious reasons. And like Cube, it's a trap. This time, the four guests are mathematicians. They talk, eat dinner and gather in a comfy room filled with math books and a blackboard for working out problems. Then the trap kicks in; their host sends them math puzzles over a cell phone and they're given a certain amount of time to solve each one. For every second they go over, the walls of the room begin to rumble inward, threatening to crush them all. The puzzles are lots of fun, but eventually the frustrated guests begin to discover secrets about one another and clues as to why they're all there. Co-directed by Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña this new take on an old story is tense and well-told, even if it has some logic lapses in the plotting. The best part is that, for once, it's a film about smart people. IFC released the DVD; it comes with a trailer.