If you’re like me, and you spend your free time perusing Netflix’s selection of 90s sci-fi and horror films, you might have come across Cube, an independent Canadian gem from 1997.
It’s the story of a small group of captives who find themselves trapped in a mysterious complex of cubes – think of being trapped inside the individual beads of a Rubik’s cube. They have no memory of how they got there, and no leads as to why, but they need to decode the minimal clues they have and escape.
With a super modest budget of 365,000 Canadian dollars, Cube features a cast of 7 characters and one 14×14 foot set. Its minimalism is its greatest asset, using mystery to build interest and its few characters to drive the plot forward, it relies only on what is absolutely necessary. There is some CGI, it’s not great quality but it’s used very moderately, only when necessary, and considering the budget and the fact that it was the nineties, it’s about the best it could be. The film has earned itself a cult following and spawned two sequels.
My feelings on the sequels are much more complicated, but the original was a simple concept that leaves its purpose deliberately ambiguous, leaving you to wonder about the implications of what you’ve seen and the purpose of it, and that’s a part of its appeal. It’s not about solving the mystery – it’s about the humanity of the characters who are trapped.
Those characters are interesting to watch, and while the caliber of acting is not exceptional, it’s sufficient to what the film is trying to do. By the end, the villainous Quentin has graduated from a minor annoyance to a formidable enemy, and investment in the other characters’ survival has grown as well.
The film’s depiction of Kazan, an autistic savant played by Andrew Miller, is somewhat complicated in that the character is played very stereotypically, but that is perhaps a product of its time. Ableism is a huge part of the film, as most of the characters are impatient with Kazan and only warm up to him after they discover his usefulness to them. It serves as an examination of the way society undervalues people with disabilities in a way that is perhaps ahead of its time, while remaining quite problematic by today’s standards. Still, this underlying theme provides a good chunk of the substance in a film that is really speculating on the villainy of humankind.
The success of the film lies in it’s subtleties, small details that add so much. For example, in order to add to the feeling of isolation, each character is named after a prison. According to imdb, the names themselves are carefully chosen to fit the archetype of each character. “Not only are the characters named after prisons but they reflect the prisons themselves. Example: Kazan (the mentally challenged character), in Russia is a disorganized prison. Rennes (the “mentor”) was a jail that pioneered many of today’s prison policies. Quentin (the detective) is known for its brutality. Holloway is a women’s prison, and Alderson is a prison where isolation is a common punishment. Leavenworth runs to a rigid set of rules (Leaven’s mathematics), and the new prison is corporately owned and built (Worth, hired as an architect).‘ (IMDB)
It’s a film that I always find myself coming back to. I’ve revisited the sequels a few times as well, but where they try to give explanations and expand on the vague science fiction vibes of the first film, I much prefer the original for all its unanswered questions. The purpose of the cube is never revealed in the first film, and as the sequels were an afterthought, it was meant to remain that way. Because of this, it’s a film you might catch yourself thinking about long after it’s over.
Shot on a handheld camera, starring 7 small name actors, in one tiny set over the course of only 20 days, this independent film went on to win several awards and retains a bit of a following two decades after its original release. I’ve enjoyed it many times, and the more I learn about its minimalist production, the more impressed I am. Definitely recommend it for a lazy Netflix afternoon.
TT's Movie Stuff 