by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Lola Merewether, Gezel Bardossi, Alyson Rudlin, Max Dÿkstra, Jason Stojanovski
Intro:
… a decent escape room-esque thriller, with good direction, compelling performances, and some choice pearls of dialogue
Less than a year after his previous feature with the technically sound but thematically unkempt Backlash, indie Aussie filmmaker Jon Cohen is already back (co-directing with Lani Castle this time) with another release. And even with the short turnaround time, this shows some sharp and thankful improvements.
Right from its opening, with chess whiz Evie (Lola Merewether) and her ill sister Danielle (Gezel Bardossi) chatting at home, it’s clear that this won’t be operating under the cliched horror cannon fodder ethos of Backlash.
The central plot, involving an elaborate red room scenario where chess sacrifices equate to actual sacrifice, involves quite a bit of anxious and paranoiac interactions as the players try and figure each other out as much as the moves on the board. But while there are a few obvious antagonists, like Max Dÿkstra as the resident douchebag Lucas, effort is still put into making the frenzied reactions of the characters believable, as well as giving them personality textures beyond the walls of the trap.
The film’s tempered, nervy pacing allows for interesting reality TV-adjacent comments on the manipulative nature of games like this, where flesh-and-blood people are pieces to be played with. More so than outright gore or genre thrills (while both are certainly still utilised), it’s the social dynamics that make the crux of the film’s entertainment value. The characterisation as a whole isn’t groundbreaking, but the connections between the characters, like Jack (Tigran Tovmasian) and Vicky (Tori Webb) reaffirming their vows, or Evie bonding with Kira (Alyson Rudlin) because the latter doesn’t treat the former like an “emotionless robot” (one of many neurodivergence-affirming moments that makes Evie as the central figure quite endearing), or just Lucas stirring up shit, are quite fun and a marked switch-up from Backlash’s annoyingly thin sketches. Especially since looking out for and caring about other people is part of the game itself: It’s not just their own lives on the line.
The film’s look definitely leans into Saw imagery with the disused prison that makes up the physical space for the game (and even the finale is one declaration of “Game over!” from being the real deal), but Cohen and Christopher J McHardy’s shared work as DPs let the darkened grunge of the setting heighten the entrapment of the characters and the tension of their circumstances. The rare sprinklings of physical violence are a bit protracted, but the impact, both narratively and through the solid blood work, helps add to the atmosphere.
The Rules of the Game is a decent escape room-esque thriller, with good direction, compelling performances, and some choice pearls of dialogue (“I’d rather die knowing I didn’t abandon a friend again.” is a particular favourite).
Screening on 24 February in Sydney, tix here.
