Genki Kawamura's chilling, endlessly clever, and surprisingly moving liminal space movie, Exit 8 literally has amazements around every corner, using different approaches for its character-based shock and disquiet.
A man (Kazunari Ninomiya) is riding the subway. He witnesses a man shouting at a woman for bringing a crying baby on the train, but he chooses to ignore the altercation. He gets off and receives a call from his ex-girlfriend (Nana Komatsu). She informs him that she is pregnant. He says he will come to her to decide what to do.
As he tries to leave the station, he suddenly finds himself in a strange loop, with the same four hallways repeating and no exit apparent. As he turns the first corner, a walking man (Yamato Kôchi) carrying a suitcase moves by but does not acknowledge the lost man.
After a few times around, the lost man discovers "the rules," posted on a wall. If he sees an anomaly, he must move backward. If there is no anomaly, he may move forward. He must successfully complete the test eight times, but each mistake resets the counter to zero. And the puzzle is harder than it looks.
Hailing from Japan and distributed there by Toho (home of Godzilla, Seven Samurai, and many others), Exit 8 is presented in Japanese with English subtitles, but that shouldn't detract viewers who are interested in a truly unforgettable experience; it will certainly invite multiple viewings.
Director Kawamura starts things well, with an unbroken POV shot that introduces us to our main character, known only as The Lost Man. We can't initially see his face, but we already get an idea of who he is, and we identify with his sad demeanor: he's on his way to a temp job, carrying a lumpy backpack from which he can never find his inhaler, and he drowns out the subway noises with Ravel's "Bolero."
Things open up when he arrives at the puzzle, and even the puzzle itself seems designed to reveal more about the characters, which also include The Walking Man, The High School Girl, The Boy, and The Woman. (It's an entirely contained, intertwined story with no extraneous moments, and a great ending.)
The puzzles range from deceptively simple to bizarre, and the scary stuff ranges from simple jump-scares and shocking images to truly horrific, nail-biting moments. It's impressive that this excellent movie was based on a video game and that the filmmakers were able to turn it into something so cinematic, and so human. Exit 8 is a treasure for fans of the unique and unusual.
