It’s easy to get lost in the eerie ‘Exit 8’
After surviving 30 years on the Red Line branch of Boston’s nation’s oldest subway system, I could totally relate to the psychological horror lurking down every subterranean corridor in the movie version of the video game “Exit 8.” The one exception being that “the T” was nowhere near as clean and spotless as the sparkling white tiles lining these passages. It’s actually even more pristine and brightly lit than the game, enhancing the eeriness of being trapped, seemingly alone, in a claustrophobic labyrinth.
Unlike most adaptations of its ilk, the film closely approximates the gamer’s experience and all the patience and awareness required to plot an extraction, much like its close cousins “Cube” and “Escape Room.” True, you have no control over the movements of the flick’s protagonist, Lost Man (K-pop star Kazunari Ninomyia), but you can compete with him in searching for the slightest variances in a loop that inevitably lands you back at Go unless you spot the subtle “anomalies.”
They can be as simple as the details in the framed advertisements lining the walls, or the number of doors and air vents. And every time Lost Man spots one, the dictates require him to reverse direction until encountering the next deviation. Pinpoint enough of them, and he’ll eventually arrive at the elusive Exit 8. Thus, close attention must be paid. And if you’re not willing to participate, expect to be bored by watching a man of few words frantically going in circles for nearly an hour.
To assure that you do indulge, director Genki Kawamura works closely with production designer Ryo Sugimoto, director of photography Keisuke Imamura and editor Sakura Seya to fashion an intriguing Kafkaesque world situated somewhere “between light and shadow,” much like an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” And sure enough, there’s a heavy Rod Serling vibe in how Kawamura and his co-writer Kentaro Hirase introduce a plethora of subtext, ranging from an inherent need to shed life’s restraints to the weightiness of forging a path toward enlightenment.
There’s also a great deal of humor, beginning with the clever use of Maurice Ravel’s “Boléro,” which, like the movie, adheres to a repetitive theme that undergoes ever-changing alterations without diverging from the melody. Its strains are first evident in the film’s opening scene aboard a crowded Tokyo subway car. Kawamura drops us literally inside Lost Man’s head as he observes the drudgery of being one of dozens of commuters with their noses buried in their phones.
All we hear are the loud cries of an infant, whose mother is about to be admonished by an overbearing passenger for her inability to keep her child quiet. Lost Man would like to intervene on her behalf but thinks better of it. After all, he’s exiting at the next stop, on his way to a new temp job. From our perch behind his eyes, we head toward the exit when his phone rings. It’s his ex. He hesitates to answer, but when he does, he might wish he hadn’t. Turns out she’s pregnant and wants to know what he intends to do about it.
Panicked and with his eyes locked on the phone, Lost Man loses all touch with his surroundings and suddenly finds himself all alone inside an Escher-esque concourse. It’s here that we transport from inside his brain to becoming his shadow as he endeavors to set himself free. Like him, we begin to familiarize ourselves with this gleaming purgatory. It all looks similar to the sterile, white halls in “Severance,” except for the presence of the ad posters, a photo booth and stacks of storage lockers. There is also a set of instructions pasted on the wall on how to reach Exit 8.
It’s a great premise for an anthology show like “The Twilight Zone” or even a live-action short, but there’s not nearly enough material to warrant a 94-minute movie. Which is why Kawamura no doubt alters the game by introducing a quartet of fellow travelers. Or, are they the internal ghosts haunting Lost Man’s conscience? One of them is his ex (Nana Komatsu); another is a strange schoolgirl (Kotone Hanase); and most profoundly, a little boy (Naru Asanuma) who could either be representative of Lost Man’s forgotten innocence or the child his ex is about to bear or abort.
The fourth of these peripheral characters is the creepy Walking Man (Yamato Kochi), a robotic, balding business dude in a tight white shirt toting a briefcase. Lost Man really doesn’t notice Walking Man at first, but that changes when Lost Man stops suddenly to pivot, discovering Walking Man within arm’s length staring back intently with a wide, mocking grin. Who is this guy? We’re as curious as Lost Man, but not so much after Kawamura switches perspectives and we begin accompanying Walking Man on his circuitous path.
The shift is interesting for a minute or two before we realize we’re witnessing a writer-director out of ideas and in need of a quick fix to justify turning what should have been a 40-minute short into a feature film. It’s around this point that the momentum begins to lag, and our interest wanes, only to be revived minutes later by the reappearance of a now more assured Lost Man.
The ending is a little too pat, but it does take us full circle and compels us to contemplate how to find an exit from our own monotonous ruts. In that respect, “Exit 8” serves as a perfect analogy for the ennui of the day-to-day. Which makes you wonder why Kawamura felt the need to guild the lily by injecting silly horror tropes, such as blood dripping from the ceiling or a pack of hairless rats with human eyes and noses incorporated into their torsos. It’s just further indication that Kawamura is grasping at straws.
Still, you could do a lot worse than a film that draws favorable comparisons to such classics as the foreboding hallways in “The Shining” to the terrifying isolation Danny Boyle brought hauntingly to life in “127 Hours.” Proving yet again that there’s no place more frightening than inside your own mind. Well, apart from riding the Red Line. Now, that’s a real nightmare, from which – like “Charlie on the M.T.A.” – you’re likely to never return.
Movie review
Exit 8
Rated: PG-13 for some bloody images and terror
Cast: Kazunari Ninomyia, Yamato Kochi, Naru Asanuma, Kotone Hanase and Nana Komatsu
Director: Genki Kawamura
Writers: Kentaro Hirase and Genki Kawamura
Runtime: 94 minutes
Where: In theaters April 10 (limited)
Grade: B
