Dj Fat Boy Slim has a track titled, ‘Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat’ and at our hedonistic student peak that was certainly a day in, day out lifestyle. It’s a repetitive lifecycle that arguably few escape. For ‘The Lost Man’ (Kazunari Ninomiya) that takes the lead in Exit 8 it is another day on the tube into most likely the same day at work as it is too for the similarly attired men also in his carriage all wearing AirPods.
That is until The Lost Man gets a call from his ex-girlfriend telling him that she’s pregnant. He’s already stepped off the tube to receive the news as he walks along the clinically white and empty corridors of the station passing only one person, a smiling man, on his way to who knows where. And then he passes him again.
And again. And again before realising that he is stuck in a loop. How to escape via Exit 8…. It’s a poster on the wall that explains to him the rules to escape the eternal loop which is, ‘Find the anomalies (an upside picture, an out of sequence door etc) and turn back when he spots it.
After the eighth time getting it right he will find Exit 8. But his story is one of several chapters that later has the smiling man (or The Walking Man as his chapter is titled) and also a lone seemingly lost boy all trapped in the same scenario. Based on a game of the same name with the same objective there’s a nightmare in its simplicity and certainly for its first half it is brilliantly realized with its creeping Steadicam shots that owes much to Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’.
Like that film there’s some great imagery from director Genki Kawamura and that he managed to get a 95 minute film out of the game is no mean achievement even if it does struggle in the last act. Even if its use of Ravell’s Bolero will bring UK audiences minds back to Torvell & Dean Olympic winning skating routine there’s far more to this. With the number 8 essentially the mathematical infinity sign upended the film is by its very nature is repetitive and suggests that were all destined to live the same day over and over. Playing like a film version of a Moebius strip this is one of those rare game adaptation movies that is both thought provoking and effective in its execution. related feature : The Last Starfighter’s Lance Guest explains how he got the role related feature : Five Night at Freddy’s 2 – 4K UHD, BLU-RAY & DVD disc review Here’s the Exit 8 trailer……