2013 Tribeca Film Festival Coverage: The Exit Room Review: In Your Face

Feel constricted? Want to escape? Well, good, that’s the point. “The Exit Room,” a short film directed by Todd Wiseman Jr., shows the audience this type of scenario. You’ll feel the rush from the environment instantaneously. In the year 2021, an imprisoned journalist faces a government execution. As the executioner gets closer to the journalist with what looks like some sort of a nail gun, he contemplates a desperate escape attempt to return to his wife and newborn child.

What makes “The Exit Room” such a thrill is Wiseman’s unique style in which he captures the sort of close-up shots of the prisoners, executioners and room where the torture takes place. Wiseman also shot the environment in way that keeps the audience guessing where and why these executions were being held. The mystery, in the end, is one of the best parts.

“The Exit Room” is a fast-paced thriller that does not hold back. What makes this film sizzle even more is the “escape” attempt itself. It’s something out of “The Fugitive.” But alas, the climax throws us a curve-ball or two and the film continues to surprise as a result.

In the end, this film is like a cherry on top of a great sundae- solid from the first spoonful, down to the last bite.