Genki Kawamura’s “ Exit 8 ” is a thriller unlike any other. Based on the 2023 video game, an unnamed protagonist (Kazunari Ninomiya) gets trapped in an endlessly repeating patch of a subway station hallway, only able to get closer to an exit by identifying bizarre and incongruent aberrations in his environment.

With twists, clues and plenty of creative camerawork, as well as a surprisingly heartfelt story about fatherhood, it’s not suprising it was selected to premiere in Cannes’ midnight screenings earlier this year before a high-profile acquisition by Neon. Kawamura, who directed and co-wrote the movie with Kentaro Hirase, spoke to Variety through a translator before the film’s TIFF bow about making a confined space feel cinematic, the Stanley Kubrick movies that inspired him and th

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