Cube

Vincenzo Natali’s first feature traps a group of strangers in a structure of cube-shaped rooms joined by numbered hatches, some rigged with lethal traps. Natali told Wider Lens the idea was practical: it had to be one location, and a single reusable set could become a symmetrical maze. The sets were designed so their colour could change, to suggest moving between rooms. Natali says companies called it a short film, not a feature; it got made only through the Canadian Film Centre. With no money for overtime, one second-unit day ran about 30 hours, and the last shot filmed was the movie’s first scene. It won Best Canadian First Feature at the Toronto festival; Playback reported it vanished after a brief Canadian run but did well in France. Natali turned down Cube 2: Hypercube, saying he had spent enough time in the Cube. The characters work out how traps are marked and rooms move through prime numbers and coordinates; who built the Cube, and why, is left to Worth’s guess about bureaucracy. A good fit if you are fine with Leaven’s prime number and coordinate work driving the plot while the real threat grows inside the group. Not for anyone who can’t take the opening wire trap cutting a man apart, or needs the power behind the Cube explained.