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Cube (film)
Encyclopedia
Cube is a 1997 Canadian science fiction
psychological thriller
/horror film
directed
by Vincenzo Natali
. The film was a successful product of the Canadian Film Centre
's First Feature Project.
Much of the film's appeal lies in its surreal, Kafkaesque settings; no extensive attempt is made to explain what the cube is that the characters are confined in, why it is created, or how the people were selected to be put inside the cube. Although the world "outside" is referred to, it is presented in an extremely abstract fashion, either a dark void or a bright white light.
) wakes up in a cube-shaped room with six hatch doors; one at the center of each wall, one on the ceiling, and one on the floor. He begins to open doors and examine each, to find rooms that differ from the one he is in only by color. Alderson goes into an amber colored room and suddenly gets cut into large cubes. It is then shown that a large metal grate had dropped down and killed him. It then folds up into the ceiling.
In another room, Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint
), Worth (David Hewlett
), Holloway (Nicky Guadagni
), Rennes (Wayne Robson
), and Leaven (Nicole deBoer) meet. None of them know where they are, how they got there, or why they are there, so they decide to try to find a way out together. Rennes already knows that some of the rooms contain traps. He initially assumes that the rooms contain motion detector
s, so he tests each room by throwing a boot into it before getting in.
As they progress, Leaven notices a series of numbers in the hatchways between the rooms. Soon after, Rennes jumps into a room previously tested with a boot but he is sprayed in the face with acid
and is killed. The group decides that the room must have contained an electrochemical sensor that Rennes missed, and realizes that they must find a better way of testing the rooms.
Quentin asks everyone about their backgrounds, and comes to the conclusion that nothing is a coincidence, and each of them has a purpose in the Cube. Leaven reveals herself to excel at mathematics
, and after looking at the numbers on a crawl space, she theorizes, using inductive reasoning
, that when none of those numbers are prime
, the room is safe. Leaven thus makes it her purpose to decipher
the Cube's code
.
They continue their progress through the Cube, and they eventually find a seventh person, Kazan (Andrew Miller
). He is mentally challenged, but Holloway insists that they bring him along.
The group starts speculating about the nature of the place they're in, and conflict arises between Quentin and Holloway. Quentin dismisses Holloway's ideas as conspiracy theories
, and Holloway thinks that Quentin is naïve. Soon after this, Quentin enters a room without prime numbers and narrowly avoids death from a trap consisting of rotating razor wires, disproving Leaven's theory. Quentin begins suspecting Worth is a spy, and becomes increasingly irritated by Kazan's mental state. The group rests, while Leaven re-attempts to decipher the numbers.
Quentin tricks Worth into revealing that he is one of the architects of the enormous cube-shaped shell that contains the cube-shaped rooms. When asked about who contracted him to do the job, he states that he doesn't know. Although the others begin to distrust Worth, he gives them information about the dimensions of the outer cube. Leaven then intuits that the numbers between the rooms could be encoded cartesian coordinates
representing the position of rooms within the Cube. Based on this theory, the group starts moving trying for the nearest edge.
The group finally reaches one of the ends of the Cube, seen as an endless black void. They conclude that there is a gap between the door and the outer shell. Fashioning a rope out of their clothes, Holloway volunteers to swing out on the rope to investigate. As she is suspended outside the room, the Cube trembles and Holloway nearly falls. Quentin catches her, but then lets her fall to her death, telling the others that she slipped.
The group decides to rest before setting out again, but as they sleep Quentin carries Leaven into another room. He tries to convince Leaven to abandon the others, and makes sexual advances and becomes abusive when she spurns him. Worth and Kazan awaken and save Leaven. Quentin becomes paranoid, revealing his murder of Holloway, and becomes enraged, beating and then throwing Worth through a door in the floor, which contains the dead body of Rennes. At first, they think that they have been going in circles, but then, noticing that the "acid room" that killed Rennes is no longer adjacent to that room, Worth and Leaven realize that the trembling they felt before must have been the rooms moving, and they assume there must be a "bridge room" that connects the Cube to the outer shell. They also find out that rooms that have traps are marked with numbers that are not simply prime number
s, but prime power
s, a much larger set of numbers. The prisoners then face the task of performing prime factorizations of three three-digit numbers for every room they enter. Kazan's purpose is revealed at this point; being an autistic savant, he has the ability to perform these factorizations quickly and easily.
They calculate the position where they could meet the bridge room, and they make their way towards it safely with Kazan's help. The exit turns out to be the same room they started in. Anticipating their escape, Worth devises a plan to incapacitate Quentin, who has gone completely mad. Worth fights Quentin into a room below them, where they leave him to die. The bridge room eventually comes, and when they open its door, bright light shines into the room. Worth announces that he will not go, as there is nothing for him in the world outside. As he and Leaven share a moment, Quentin appears and kills Leaven by stabbing her with a door handle. He also fatally stabs Worth before turning to Kazan, who is already climbing out. With the last of his strength, Worth grabs Quentin's leg, and Quentin is crushed in the crawlspace between the cubes when the rooms shift. Having saved Kazan, Worth lies down next to Leaven and dies. Kazan is then seen walking slowly into the bright light.
in California
, Holloway is named after the Holloway Prison
in London
, Kazan is named after the prison in Kazan
, Tatarstan
, Russia
, Rennes is named after a prison in Rennes
, Brittany
, France
, Alderson is named after the prison
in Alderson
, West Virginia
, and Leaven and Worth are named after the prison
in Leavenworth
, Kansas
.
developed and filmed a short entitled Elevated
. The short was set in an elevator and was intended to give investors an idea of how Cube would hypothetically look and come across. It eventually got the feature financed. Cube was shot on a Toronto
soundstage.
Only one cube, measuring 14 by 14 by 14 feet, was actually built, with only one working door that could actually support the weight of the actors. The colour of the room was changed by sliding panels. Since this task was a time-consuming procedure, the movie was not shot in sequence; all shots taking place in rooms of a specific colour were shot one at a time. It was intended that there would be six different colours of rooms to match the recurring theme of six throughout the movie; five sets of gel panels plus pure white. However, the budget did not stretch to the sixth gel panel and so there are only five different room colours in the movie. Another partial cube was made for shots requiring the point of view of standing in one room looking into another.
An episode of the original The Twilight Zone
television series, "Five Characters in Search of an Exit
", was reportedly an inspiration for the movie.
Natali
states in the commentary that a professor was hired to work on the mathematics for Cube, and that one could actually build the structure as it is described in the film. This system is uncovered little by little by the characters who learn to use it to navigate. Leaven plays the greatest role in its induction.
The following "clues" are gradually revealed as the film progresses. The characters realize quickly that the Cube maze consists of interlocking cubical rooms, each with six doors leading to another cubical room, with a narrow passageway connecting the two. Each door is opened manually from inside the room, with no visible mechanism on the other side of the door that is shown briefly as Holloway first enters the scene. It is noted that there are two labels in any given passageway, marking each side of the passageway with a unique nine digit number. Leaven realizes that the "decoded" Cartesian coordinates for the positions of the rooms are obtained by adding together the digits of each three digit number, so that a number "582 434 865" would become "5+8+2 4+3+4 8+6+5" or an x,y,z coordinate of (15,11,19). Worth reveals that the dimensions of the outer shell are "434 feet, square" (i.e. 434 linear feet for each side), and Leaven measures the inside length of one of the rooms by walking as 14 feet to a side and calculates the Cube must consist of 26x26x26 rooms, or 17,576 rooms.
Leaven then theorizes that the trapped rooms factor into the math. She notes that the labels of three of the known trapped rooms contained a prime number
, and theorizes that any room containing a prime number
is trapped, which holds true for a while. However, a trapped room that does not contain a prime number is later found, and she states that the numbers must be more complex than she thought. Eventually when the group lands back in a room already visited, Worth theorizes that the rooms are actually shifting positions. Leaven expands on her theory into a more complex one and reveals the following inductions to the group:
Leaven concludes that she cannot navigate because the math is too difficult to be done mentally in the time required. Kazan starts giving her the number of prime factors of the three digit numbers, which she uses in combination with her system to navigate their way to the bridge, which leads out of the Cube.
.
Cube 2: Hypercube
(2003) and the prequel
Cube Zero
(2004).
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
psychological thriller
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
/horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali is an American-Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing science fiction films such as Cube, Nothing and Splice.-Early life:...
. The film was a successful product of the Canadian Film Centre
Canadian Film Centre
The Canadian Film Centre is an advanced training institution for film, television and new media. Based in Toronto, Canada, CFC offers residents education, industry partnerships and production experience...
's First Feature Project.
Much of the film's appeal lies in its surreal, Kafkaesque settings; no extensive attempt is made to explain what the cube is that the characters are confined in, why it is created, or how the people were selected to be put inside the cube. Although the world "outside" is referred to, it is presented in an extremely abstract fashion, either a dark void or a bright white light.
Plot
Alderson (Julian RichingsJulian Richings
Julian Richings is an English-born Canadian actor. He appeared in over 50 Canadian films and 20 separate television series.-Life and career:...
) wakes up in a cube-shaped room with six hatch doors; one at the center of each wall, one on the ceiling, and one on the floor. He begins to open doors and examine each, to find rooms that differ from the one he is in only by color. Alderson goes into an amber colored room and suddenly gets cut into large cubes. It is then shown that a large metal grate had dropped down and killed him. It then folds up into the ceiling.
In another room, Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint
Maurice Dean Wint
Maurice Dean Wint is a British-born, Canadian-based actor who has starred in several television shows and movies; the most notable ones include "Cube", "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", RoboCop: Prime Directives, Psi Factor and the TekWar movies and television series.Wint moved to Canada in 1969 with...
), Worth (David Hewlett
David Hewlett
David Ian Hewlett is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his role as Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay on the science fiction television shows Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:...
), Holloway (Nicky Guadagni
Nicky Guadagni
Nicky Guadagni is a Canadian actress who has worked on stage, radio, film and television.-Career:Originally from Montreal, Nicky Guadagni majored in drama at Dawson College and went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her first role after graduation was playing Miranda, with...
), Rennes (Wayne Robson
Wayne Robson
Wayne Robson was a Canadian television, film and stage actor best known for playing the part of Mike Hamar, an ex-convict and sometime thief, on the Canadian sitcom The Red Green Show from 1993 to 2006, as well as in the 2002 film Duct Tape Forever.Robson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia...
), and Leaven (Nicole deBoer) meet. None of them know where they are, how they got there, or why they are there, so they decide to try to find a way out together. Rennes already knows that some of the rooms contain traps. He initially assumes that the rooms contain motion detector
Motion detector
A motion detector is a device for motion detection. That is, it is a device that contains a physical mechanism or electronic sensor that quantifies motion that can be either integrated with or connected to other devices that alert the user of the presence of a moving object within the field of view...
s, so he tests each room by throwing a boot into it before getting in.
As they progress, Leaven notices a series of numbers in the hatchways between the rooms. Soon after, Rennes jumps into a room previously tested with a boot but he is sprayed in the face with acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
and is killed. The group decides that the room must have contained an electrochemical sensor that Rennes missed, and realizes that they must find a better way of testing the rooms.
Quentin asks everyone about their backgrounds, and comes to the conclusion that nothing is a coincidence, and each of them has a purpose in the Cube. Leaven reveals herself to excel at mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, and after looking at the numbers on a crawl space, she theorizes, using inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning, also known as induction or inductive logic, is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations. It is commonly construed as a form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances...
, that when none of those numbers are prime
Prime number
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
, the room is safe. Leaven thus makes it her purpose to decipher
Cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information that is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves knowing how the system works and finding a secret key...
the Cube's code
Code
A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
.
They continue their progress through the Cube, and they eventually find a seventh person, Kazan (Andrew Miller
Andrew Miller (actor)
Andrew Miller is a Canadian actor, writer, and director.- Career :Miller began his career as an actor at age 16 in Toronto, Canada. Early theater roles include Moritz Stiefel in Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening and Eugene Morris Jerome in Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs...
). He is mentally challenged, but Holloway insists that they bring him along.
The group starts speculating about the nature of the place they're in, and conflict arises between Quentin and Holloway. Quentin dismisses Holloway's ideas as conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
, and Holloway thinks that Quentin is naïve. Soon after this, Quentin enters a room without prime numbers and narrowly avoids death from a trap consisting of rotating razor wires, disproving Leaven's theory. Quentin begins suspecting Worth is a spy, and becomes increasingly irritated by Kazan's mental state. The group rests, while Leaven re-attempts to decipher the numbers.
Quentin tricks Worth into revealing that he is one of the architects of the enormous cube-shaped shell that contains the cube-shaped rooms. When asked about who contracted him to do the job, he states that he doesn't know. Although the others begin to distrust Worth, he gives them information about the dimensions of the outer cube. Leaven then intuits that the numbers between the rooms could be encoded cartesian coordinates
Cartesian coordinate system
A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...
representing the position of rooms within the Cube. Based on this theory, the group starts moving trying for the nearest edge.
The group finally reaches one of the ends of the Cube, seen as an endless black void. They conclude that there is a gap between the door and the outer shell. Fashioning a rope out of their clothes, Holloway volunteers to swing out on the rope to investigate. As she is suspended outside the room, the Cube trembles and Holloway nearly falls. Quentin catches her, but then lets her fall to her death, telling the others that she slipped.
The group decides to rest before setting out again, but as they sleep Quentin carries Leaven into another room. He tries to convince Leaven to abandon the others, and makes sexual advances and becomes abusive when she spurns him. Worth and Kazan awaken and save Leaven. Quentin becomes paranoid, revealing his murder of Holloway, and becomes enraged, beating and then throwing Worth through a door in the floor, which contains the dead body of Rennes. At first, they think that they have been going in circles, but then, noticing that the "acid room" that killed Rennes is no longer adjacent to that room, Worth and Leaven realize that the trembling they felt before must have been the rooms moving, and they assume there must be a "bridge room" that connects the Cube to the outer shell. They also find out that rooms that have traps are marked with numbers that are not simply prime number
Prime number
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
s, but prime power
Prime power
In mathematics, a prime power is a positive integer power of a prime number.For example: 5=51, 9=32 and 16=24 are prime powers, while6=2×3, 15=3×5 and 36=62=22×32 are not...
s, a much larger set of numbers. The prisoners then face the task of performing prime factorizations of three three-digit numbers for every room they enter. Kazan's purpose is revealed at this point; being an autistic savant, he has the ability to perform these factorizations quickly and easily.
They calculate the position where they could meet the bridge room, and they make their way towards it safely with Kazan's help. The exit turns out to be the same room they started in. Anticipating their escape, Worth devises a plan to incapacitate Quentin, who has gone completely mad. Worth fights Quentin into a room below them, where they leave him to die. The bridge room eventually comes, and when they open its door, bright light shines into the room. Worth announces that he will not go, as there is nothing for him in the world outside. As he and Leaven share a moment, Quentin appears and kills Leaven by stabbing her with a door handle. He also fatally stabs Worth before turning to Kazan, who is already climbing out. With the last of his strength, Worth grabs Quentin's leg, and Quentin is crushed in the crawlspace between the cubes when the rooms shift. Having saved Kazan, Worth lies down next to Leaven and dies. Kazan is then seen walking slowly into the bright light.
Cast
- Nicole de BoerNicole de BoerNicole de Boer is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known for her roles as Ezri Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from 1998 to 1999 and as Sarah Bannerman on The Dead Zone from 2002 to 2007.-Career:...
as Joan Leaven, a girl who has expert mathematical skills that aid the group. - Maurice Dean WintMaurice Dean WintMaurice Dean Wint is a British-born, Canadian-based actor who has starred in several television shows and movies; the most notable ones include "Cube", "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", RoboCop: Prime Directives, Psi Factor and the TekWar movies and television series.Wint moved to Canada in 1969 with...
as Quentin. He claims to be a police officerPolice officerA police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
and is strong and level-headed. He takes on most of the dangerous tasks and claims to look for "practical solutions". - David HewlettDavid HewlettDavid Ian Hewlett is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his role as Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay on the science fiction television shows Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:...
as David Worth. He maintains a doomed outlook throughout the first part of the film, and mocks Quentin's attempts at escape. - Nicky GuadagniNicky GuadagniNicky Guadagni is a Canadian actress who has worked on stage, radio, film and television.-Career:Originally from Montreal, Nicky Guadagni majored in drama at Dawson College and went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her first role after graduation was playing Miranda, with...
as Dr. Helen Holloway, a free clinicFree clinicA free clinic is a medical facility offering community healthcare on a free or very low-cost basis in countries with marginal or no universal health care. Care is generally provided in these clinics to persons who have lower or limited income and no health insurance, including persons who are not...
doctorPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. She is shown at the start to be bitter, paranoidParanoiaParanoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
, and melodramatic. She spouts conspiracy theoriesConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
and believes that the government is responsible for the Cube. - Andrew MillerAndrew Miller (actor)Andrew Miller is a Canadian actor, writer, and director.- Career :Miller began his career as an actor at age 16 in Toronto, Canada. Early theater roles include Moritz Stiefel in Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening and Eugene Morris Jerome in Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs...
as Kazan, an autistic man with the abilitySavant syndromeSavant syndrome , sometimes referred to as savantism, is a rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations...
to rapidly and accurately perform prime number calculationsMental calculatorMental calculators are people with a prodigious ability in some area of mental calculation, such as multiplying large numbers or factoring large numbers...
. - Wayne RobsonWayne RobsonWayne Robson was a Canadian television, film and stage actor best known for playing the part of Mike Hamar, an ex-convict and sometime thief, on the Canadian sitcom The Red Green Show from 1993 to 2006, as well as in the 2002 film Duct Tape Forever.Robson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia...
as Rennes, also known as "The WrenWrenThe wrens are passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. There are approximately 80 species of true wrens in approximately 20 genera....
". He first appears to the group as the most knowledgeable of their surroundings, and the reluctant leader. He was an escape artist who escaped from seven major prisons. - Julian RichingsJulian RichingsJulian Richings is an English-born Canadian actor. He appeared in over 50 Canadian films and 20 separate television series.-Life and career:...
as Alderson, a fellow Cube prisoner who never meets the rest of the group.
Character names
All the characters are named after prisons. Quentin is named after San Quentin State PrisonSan Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Holloway is named after the Holloway Prison
Holloway (HM Prison)
HM Prison Holloway is a closed category prison for adult women and Young Offenders, located in the Holloway area of the London Borough of Islington, in north and Inner London, England...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Kazan is named after the prison in Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Rennes is named after a prison in Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Alderson is named after the prison
Alderson Federal Prison Camp
Alderson Federal Prison Camp, also known as Federal Prison Camp, Alderson or FPC Alderson, is a Federal Bureau of Prisons minimum security prison for women in the United States in unincorporated Monroe County and Summers County in West Virginia...
in Alderson
Alderson, West Virginia
Alderson, a town in the US State of West Virginia, is split geographically by the Greenbrier River, with portions in both Greenbrier and Monroe Counties. Although split physically by the river, the town functions as one entity, including that of town government...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, and Leaven and Worth are named after the prison
United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth
The United States Penitentiary , Leavenworth was the largest maximum security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005. It became a medium security prison in 2005.It is located in Leavenworth, Kansas...
in Leavenworth
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
.
Production
After writing Cube, Vincenzo NataliVincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali is an American-Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing science fiction films such as Cube, Nothing and Splice.-Early life:...
developed and filmed a short entitled Elevated
Elevated (film)
Elevated is a 1997 short film directed by Vincenzo Natali and co-written by him and Karen Walton, who also participated in the writing of Ginger Snaps.-Plot:...
. The short was set in an elevator and was intended to give investors an idea of how Cube would hypothetically look and come across. It eventually got the feature financed. Cube was shot on a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
soundstage.
Only one cube, measuring 14 by 14 by 14 feet, was actually built, with only one working door that could actually support the weight of the actors. The colour of the room was changed by sliding panels. Since this task was a time-consuming procedure, the movie was not shot in sequence; all shots taking place in rooms of a specific colour were shot one at a time. It was intended that there would be six different colours of rooms to match the recurring theme of six throughout the movie; five sets of gel panels plus pure white. However, the budget did not stretch to the sixth gel panel and so there are only five different room colours in the movie. Another partial cube was made for shots requiring the point of view of standing in one room looking into another.
An episode of the original The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
television series, "Five Characters in Search of an Exit
Five Characters in Search of an Exit
"Five Characters in Search of an Exit" is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:A uniformed Army major wakes up to find himself trapped inside in a large metal cylinder, where he meets a clown, who introduces him to the others, a hobo, ballet dancer, and a bagpiper. None...
", was reportedly an inspiration for the movie.
Mathematics
- The following is the general collective educated induction of Wikipedia editors. It is not a strict report of widespread fan consensus, nor is it based on professional publications evaluating the film. As a result, much theory has been omitted that would otherwise make the section richer. Please help extend it by evaluating the film's math, reviewing and discussing the ongoing issues, and/or adding references to reliable professional sources evaluating the movie.
Natali
Vincenzo Natali
Vincenzo Natali is an American-Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing science fiction films such as Cube, Nothing and Splice.-Early life:...
states in the commentary that a professor was hired to work on the mathematics for Cube, and that one could actually build the structure as it is described in the film. This system is uncovered little by little by the characters who learn to use it to navigate. Leaven plays the greatest role in its induction.
The following "clues" are gradually revealed as the film progresses. The characters realize quickly that the Cube maze consists of interlocking cubical rooms, each with six doors leading to another cubical room, with a narrow passageway connecting the two. Each door is opened manually from inside the room, with no visible mechanism on the other side of the door that is shown briefly as Holloway first enters the scene. It is noted that there are two labels in any given passageway, marking each side of the passageway with a unique nine digit number. Leaven realizes that the "decoded" Cartesian coordinates for the positions of the rooms are obtained by adding together the digits of each three digit number, so that a number "582 434 865" would become "5+8+2 4+3+4 8+6+5" or an x,y,z coordinate of (15,11,19). Worth reveals that the dimensions of the outer shell are "434 feet, square" (i.e. 434 linear feet for each side), and Leaven measures the inside length of one of the rooms by walking as 14 feet to a side and calculates the Cube must consist of 26x26x26 rooms, or 17,576 rooms.
Leaven then theorizes that the trapped rooms factor into the math. She notes that the labels of three of the known trapped rooms contained a prime number
Prime number
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
, and theorizes that any room containing a prime number
Prime number
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
is trapped, which holds true for a while. However, a trapped room that does not contain a prime number is later found, and she states that the numbers must be more complex than she thought. Eventually when the group lands back in a room already visited, Worth theorizes that the rooms are actually shifting positions. Leaven expands on her theory into a more complex one and reveals the following inductions to the group:
- The rooms cycle around before returning to their starting positions.
- There is a "bridge", a single room that sometimes connects the maze to the outer shell and provides the only known means of escape.
- The number of each room reveals where the room is, how many times it moves, and where it moves to.
- The traps are identified by numbers that are the power of a primePrime powerIn mathematics, a prime power is a positive integer power of a prime number.For example: 5=51, 9=32 and 16=24 are prime powers, while6=2×3, 15=3×5 and 36=62=22×32 are not...
. - The permutationPermutationIn mathematics, the notion of permutation is used with several slightly different meanings, all related to the act of permuting objects or values. Informally, a permutation of a set of objects is an arrangement of those objects into a particular order...
s by which the rooms move around are calculated by adding and subtractingSubtractionIn arithmetic, subtraction is one of the four basic binary operations; it is the inverse of addition, meaning that if we start with any number and add any number and then subtract the same number we added, we return to the number we started with...
the digits. - To figure out which rooms are trapped, she must calculate the factors in each set; rooms with a number that is expressible as the power of a single prime number are trapped.
Leaven concludes that she cannot navigate because the math is too difficult to be done mentally in the time required. Kazan starts giving her the number of prime factors of the three digit numbers, which she uses in combination with her system to navigate their way to the bridge, which leads out of the Cube.
Reception
Cube received mixed to positive reviews, earning an approval rating of 59% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Sequels
Cube is followed by the sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
Cube 2: Hypercube
Cube 2: Hypercube
Cube 2: Hypercube is a 2003 Canadian psychological thriller/horror film film and the sequel to the psychological thriller/horror film Cube. Released in 2002, Cube 2: Hypercube had a bigger budget than its predecessor, and a new director, Andrzej Sekuła...
(2003) and the prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
Cube Zero
Cube Zero
Cube Zero is a 2004 Canadian psychological thriller/horror film, written and directed by Ernie Barbarash. It is the third film in the Cube film series, but is a prequel to the first film...
(2004).
External links
- Cube at the Canadian Film CentreCanadian Film CentreThe Canadian Film Centre is an advanced training institution for film, television and new media. Based in Toronto, Canada, CFC offers residents education, industry partnerships and production experience...
website.