Fermat's Room Directed by: Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña Cast: Lluís Homar, Alejo Sauras, Elena Ballesteros, Santi Millán Running Time: 1 hr 30 mins Rating: Unrated

32nd Portland International Film Festival Country: Spanish English?: Nope. Subtitled.

Plot: A group of mathematicians are invited to meet at a remote location for a party. Unfortunately, after the host leaves events take a strange turn as the guests are locked in a room and forced to solve logic puzzles. When they fail, the walls of the room compact so the guests are doing logic puzzles for their lives.

Who’s It For? I'd definitely recommend a rudimentary understanding of math and logic puzzles. You don't have to be a genius, but it helps to know the basics.

OVERALL

Math can be super daunting for some people, and the directors don't seem too concerned about scaring people off. Right from the start, one of the main characters proclaims that if you don't know what prime numbers are, you should leave now. I think that's overstating things. The math in this movie tends to be more logic puzzles along the lines of the infamous "There are two trains headed toward Pittsburgh ..." type. Of course, these puzzles are only a metaphor for how the people involved in the film interconnect. An older mathematician (Homar), an inventor (Millán), a young mathematician (Sauras) and a young female mathematician (Ballesteros) try to determine what connects them so they can get out of a room that's closing in on them.

Sure, it sounds a little silly, but the premise works at the beginning. I wanted to know how they would get out of their predicament. The movie didn't start grating on me until we found out what bound them together. Unfortunately, the film and characters get less clever and interesting as the plot progresses. Still, someone clearly paid good money for this, it looks and sounds great. I especially enjoyed the sounds of objects breaking as they were squeezed to bits.

So maybe it's not the most exciting thriller, but an interesting twist on your typical action movie. If you love thrillers and you want something a little different, I'd recommend it.

Final Score: 6/10