The Cage Review

When a murder occurs during a live theatre performance, 6 actors locked in a cage on stage have limited intervals to figure out which one of them is the killer before he/she strikes again. At the same time, they must try to convince the live audience, contrary to the reassurances of the evil stage director, that all that is happening on stage is real and somehow find their way out of ‘The Cage’.

‘The Cage’ is a mandarin Malaysian ‘experimental’ film in which most individual scenes were filmed in one shot with no cuts. It also has no specific script and the actors were merely informed as to what would happen in the scene and required to make up the dialogue and reactions themselves. Though they do not say it, it should be pointed out that there were clearly cuts in between death scenes and although the entire performance on the stage was in one shot and was not scripted, scenes taken off-stage, specifically with the villains, were clearly not done in the same format, which led to a clash of styles to a certain extent and a feeling of divergence between the two types of scenes that make them feel like they don’t fit together. Despite all this though, the decision to basically make a film with no written dialogue and taken in one shot is a very risky one to make and is very commendable on the part of the film makers.

Kyo Chen (middle) does an excellent
job in connecting with his audience.

Due to the lack of a script, the actors on the caged-stage have even more to do than a normal actor as they are forced to come up with lines by themselves on the spot. As they subtly think of lines before actually saying them and constantly interrupt each other, this system of improvised acting creates a very realistic tone of how people actually speak and act in real life, therefore making the characters feel very much like real people. Also, since individual scenes were filmed in one shot, never re-filmed and filmed chronologically, the actors are able to seamlessly bring their emotions from one scene to the next. These two elements combined makes for an outstandingly realistic performance by the actors and an extremely tense and nerve-racking experience throughout the scenes in the cage. All 7 stage actors give nearly flawless performances with particular props going to Kyo Chen who played the most likable character as his character actually has a connection with the film audience in the form of his sister being part of the live audience in the film. He carried the story and emotion on his shoulders and did an excellent job in getting the audience emotionally invested in what is happening on stage. That is not to put down his co-stars who also did a great job to make the film as intriguing as possible.

Where this film really shines is in its premise. For many, the idea alone is able to captivate them throughout the entire film. With the stage director character informing the live audience early on that the play will be so realistic that the actors will be screaming and asking the audience for help, the actors are trapped in a cage on stage pleading for someone to help them as the audience, convinced that it is part of the performance, reply them with hearty applause. At the same time, a killer who is suspected to be one of the actors on stage is slowly killing them off one by one. A who-done-it murder mystery in general is always intriguing to watch but the idea of placing it in front of an audience who think it is all part of a play is inspired. Although it would be even more intriguing if it were an actual theatrical play rather than a film, the premise is still a strong one and many who fall in love with the film are probably in love with the idea of it rather than the film itself.

Co-directors Felix Tan and Kethsvin
Chee are great idea men though
they have trouble with the execution.

In execution, every scene that happened on stage is near perfect. With great acting, wonderful camera work and suspense-filled drama, every scene on stage was executed flawlessly by a great cast. Unfortunately, the filmmakers somehow decided to insert a behind-the-scenes section of the story that does not translate as well as the scenes on stage. A very weak villain and a wasted character in the stage director presented a massive flaw in the film. From horrifyingly bad acting by the main villain backstage to inconsistent character developments of the stage director to the illogical back story and weak motives of the backstage hero, the film seems to take a massive dive in quality every time it cuts to the backstage cast. These unfortunate scenes are slotted in between emotional stage scenes, causing the emotions and stakes of the film to drastically decrease, thereby weakening the audience involvement in the film. In addition to that, the ‘no script’ policy, though positive in so many ways, does have one negative effect on performances as the actors sometimes pause, not knowing what to do, when they think they are not in a shot and therefore creating awkward background moments that, if spotted, can take one completely out of the film. The decision to make many of the kills done with a sniper from outside the cage is also very disappointing as it lacked the ‘personal touch’ and intensity one can only get with more creative forms of killing.

The film was produced by a TV studio and it certainly tells. With random flash backs to incidences that happened mere minutes ago like there was supposed to be a commercial in between, and an obnoxious behind-the-scenes view with actors and directors talking about how revolutionary it is, it is clearly a film made for TV. It desperately beats the audience over the head with the fact that it was shot with no cuts and no script when the line mentioning it in the opening of the film would have been enough.

The cast promoting the film.

All in all, the film can really be split into two parts, on-stage scenes and off-stage scenes. The on-stage scenes and performances are outstanding and capable of even standing toe-to-toe with giant Hollywood blockbusters. Unfortunately, the off-stage scenes are so badly done, feeling like a high school student had written and shot it with his friends being the actors, leading one to think that the actors on stage were the real reason for the quality of the film rather than the director or filmmaker himself as the actors had improvised every good moment of the film. As the off-stage scenes are in the film just as much as the on-stage scenes, it is really difficult to give this film a rating that is too high. However, it is still an outstanding film and a film I am proud to call a Malaysian film. It is easily one of the best Malaysian films to date and is much better than the Cicak-Man films which try to lay claim to that title. It feels unfair that I have to rate it on an international standard but I will as I think it is good enough to be rated as such. Even on an international standard, it stands strong and firm, being able to stand toe-to-toe with many murder mystery thrillers I’ve seen from Hollywood. It is tense, believable and overall a very impressive film. Though I’ve had to pull the rating down because of the backstage scenes and a few silly gimmicks and weakly motivated characters, it is still highly recommended and deservingly earns a good rating.

Thriller Movie Rating: 8.5/10

Mystery Movie Rating: 8/10
After Credits Movie Rating: 6.7/10