Exam (2006) User Reviews (10)

Good, light-hearted quasi-thriller

[ulnoyman · 8/10 · 15 April 2007]

This is good, light-hearted quasi-thriller (?) that succeeds without really trying to, or may be succeeds because it does not try too hard. Director Sorak seems to get the right lessons from the mistakes in G.O.R.A., or may be he fares better since 'Sinav' (The Exam) is his own project. Editing is better, seamless and fascinating. Turkish directors in general, Sorak included, are getting better and better at controlling the tempo lately.

The movie is about a small circle of friends, all high-school students under the stress of the approaching annual nationwide university entrance exam. They decide to ease their way by stealing the questions of the exam at all costs, even if they had pay thousands of bucks to hire a double-o-seven type.

The mixture of experienced and young actors do a good job with believable performances, they look and act real, even when things seem to go absurd for a while. It even has Jean-Claude Van Damme in a small but important cameo role to garnish. Any high kicks? well, one... kinda.

Turkish cinema produces about 25-30 movies a year - This one is one of the several that are actually worth watching.

6.5 ! oh come on, maybe not 10 or 9 but definitely 7 or 8!

[d_tarman · 8/10 · 3 June 2020]

Good directed movie, you can enjoy every moment. Above Turkish standards of its time, good story, good cinematography, acting is well enough. I am guessing non watchers have voted for the movie.

From Horse Race To University Exam

[kalay · 6/10 · 27 October 2006]

We have watched Sinav with young people in Khalkedon. Sinav gives a priority to young people's problems. One of the most important problems is education and Grand University Exam. The question asked in the film that is possible to measure the performance with one exam? As a main basis horse race was given in the movie.

Ruya Onal is excellent; we can see her movies in soon. Jean-Claude Van Damme was not suit in his role. If he would played, we should have seen much more action scenes. Other players were average. Some characters, some typical pronunciation sticks to the player. We see Kadir Copdemir with same sort of character.

The director tried to bring velocity to the movie by accelerating scenes. However for the velocity we need much more peculiarities.

The movie is not bad on the whole; at least it gives us valuable clues about life itself.

As a movie, it's an average movie, but what it wanted to tell was good

[jack_o_hasanov_imdb · 7/10 · 15 August 2021]

I had seen scenes from this movie from the clip of Nil Karaibrahimgil's song, I was curious. There was also veteran action actor JCVD. As a movie, it's an average movie, but what it wanted to tell was good.

Rise of the quality of direction for Turkey

[venusfrozen · 9/10 · 20 October 2006]

After having seen this movies I was surprised because it was beyond my expectations.I was expecting a film with some poor jokes and little nice jokes but it was an interesting experience to see that the film has got good humorous parts.More than this the level of drama is perfect,in one scene it makes you laugh and in the coming scene you can cry so it's really hard to mix these so perfectly in a film.

What made really excited is the level of quality of direction in this movie.I know the music clips and other films of this director (Ö.Faruk Sorak who also directed G.O.R.A.) and I always liked his style,maybe he doesn't bring a new kind of direction style to the world but I think he can make the best direction in Turkey.Although I live in Europe I don't like the European style movies and I always like to see good action sees with a good scenario and this goal is achieved perfectly by this director.

Although the superiority of this film for a Turkish person I don't think it can make the same impact in Europe or United States because the film tells you a story which makes real deep wounds (I'm not joking,the wounds are really deep!) in Turkish young people.I think after the great Hababam Sinifi; movies (the old ones with Kemal Sunal,etc.) this is the only film that can take to high school ages' memories.

And the last words...It's 9/10 and It's not 10/10 because of its ending...It gives real good advices to the life but when the film finishes you leave the theater with some questions in your mind but maybe there is coming a second film and I may change my mind to 10/10 after seeing the conclusion.

Shortly If you are living in Turkey don't miss it!! If you are living out of Turkey if you can't see it in the theater take the DVD,you won't regret.

P.S.: It's a good idea that Jean Claude Van Damme is playing in the movie to attract an interest but the poorest level of acting is from him in the whole acting squad I think.

Two Thumbs Up

[Aral_Bateman · 9/10 · 26 October 2006]

I read some topics of this film's board,some turk is praising g.o.r.a,and some other people declare they don't even know what is going on,why i am comparing this movie to gora,because of same directors,and gora was utterly crap..

anyway this movie is absolutely local,if you are not familiar with Turkish University Entrance Exam,probably there wont any empathy with feelings of characters,because in other countries the exam isn't same as ours..

The movie brings us the feeling of wrong idea of this exam,and it also adds everyone has thought to make difference,but in the end you wont,only hard-workers will win in the end,so criticism of exam and showing the results of working is too balanced so,we can agree it both ways..

Acting:Not the greatest there are some typecasting characters such as Big-Bad-Headmaster,Slutty music teacher,horny tea seller,punk-girl who was before a actual girl etc..But we can feel what students fell really,because of i was in that exam last year,i know that pressure and you feel it too..

Scenes:Some kinda video clip style,which is absolute problem of director,and because of shooting you always feel like its Requem For A Dream,and it also gives you pressure too..

Scenario:Good..The tie-in's are great,the evolution of characters are good,first the dream sequence which gives us emotions of characters to frp style evolution of their work style;first stealing math exam,second stealing their pre-test exams,then the final one..

Jean Claude Van-Damme:We see him talking french and being himself and B type movie style kick and steal sequences,what can we ask for more for this film? Chuck Norris? Our country isn't concerned with his facts,by the way he is much more popular in here,and the poster of film actually have him..(although he made it 10 minutes max.) So,if you are some kinda evolved with University Entrance Exam,you definitely enjoy this film,but you are from another country maybe enjoy the feelings of students and-thankful for yours- because there is no empathy for you..

Good direction, Story Flawed

[cinemart · 5/10 · 28 April 2007]

Cheating knows no bounds. It breaks through the English-language barrier with Omer Faruk Sorak's entry into the fray, SINAV. The tale of five friends who conspire to beat "the big exam," the film opens with an intense nightmare montage and doesn't slow down from there. Even in the movie's most heartfelt moments there are few shots that last longer than five seconds. Otherwise the camera jumps around, the image goes from color to black & white and back again, and the film moves with at a pace that could trigger epileptic seizures. Despite this wild montage, at close to two hours SINAV becomes a rather tiresome venture.

Too much of the film is a build-up to any kind of educational larceny. The moral chasm of cheating appears to be more of a crack in the sidewalk to these youths who defiantly charge that they'll "steal questions from the ones who steal my youth." It doesn't help that the school has brought in a motivational speaker who now makes money selling exam tutorial classes but is best known for being "Armless Levo," a student who used an arm cast to sneak study sheets into examinations. And this successful businessman is their role model? The emotional center of the film is Mert (Ismail Hacioglu), a troubled teen who seems to have left school to get a job but has no trouble returning when he wants to fulfill his dying mother's dream of getting a proper education. While Mert deals with his mother's cancer and his inability to study, his compatriots all have their own home problems to face from the ever-bickering parents of Gazme (Rüya Önal) to the parents who want to get their son, Sinan (Yagmur Atacan) an exorcism since he doesn't test well.

SINAV plays like a Turkish version of THE PERFECT SCORE until it jettisons all heretofore structure of the film's own logic at the ninety-minute mark. Rather than performing some smaller heists for test keys and being general nuisances to the totalitarian teachers and principal, the kids decide to call in a world class thief, Charlie, who one of their own, Uluc (Volkan Demirok), met as a child. Only having the name, Uluk actually manages to find this thief after sending out 17,000 emails. When he arrives, everyone can't help but notice how much Charlie (Jean-Claude Van Damme) looks like Jean-Claude Van Damme.

In another brain-crushing twist, it turns out that Jean-Claude Van Damme is friends with Armless Levo and the two of them have cooked up a scheme to give the kids the wrong exam in order to teach them a valuable moral lesson. Ouch! Had the film stuck with the reality of the situation and kept up the potboiler pressure of parents, professors, and peers, SINAV may have worked. As it was, the Van Damme es Machina became a fatal flaw from which the film could not recover.

A great movie, very successfully and cleverly implemented.

[warrelapsed · 9/10 · 24 October 2006]

I very much enjoyed the film, however it is mostly aimed at the Turkish audience, or viewers who are familiar with the University Entry Exam System in Turkey, in terms of understanding the emotions the characters dealing with.

The acting was first-class. Everyone seemed to have blended with their role and the messages and jokes were delivered how or where they needed to.

As mentioned in the very early trailers this film of both comedy and drama genre. Both aspects are implemented successfully, which is why it makes this film a must-see.

The jokes are clever, the conversations are natural.

There is an unexpected twist in the end. However, I must say, the ending has disappointed me in a way that it left us wondering what has become of the characters?

this is really perfect

[serkankocyigit · 9/10 · 26 October 2006]

When i went to cinema i was just hopping a teenage film but this film is more than this.. u can laugh and cry at the same time... it filmed a tragedy in Turkey about choosing jobs and exams.... this is nice...Jean Claude Van Damme is the best of course but the movie is better ... There are lots of choises in our lives.. this movie depends on them and it shows that how an exam changes a life and how peaople are just like horses in the race...and how can a person do something for their future and their loves... this movie is really good. if you want to have a good Friday this is your movie.. The musics are good. we heard them in other albums but in this movie they placed in correct places.. especially Nil KARAIBRAHIMGIL is the best with her 18years song...

One of the best Turkish movies I've ever seen!!

[iremma6 · 10/10 · 6 April 2007]

This movie successfully shows the audience how this "university exam" concept affects high school students' lives dramatically in Turkey. In my opinion the acting performance of all the young actors are great and effective and also the musics chosen for the movie are making the movie more emotional and binds you with the characters of the movie more deeply.

I guess the ones who will find a part from their life in this movie are the students. Also in the film we see not only the exam stress that the students are dealing with but also their relationships and mostly disagreements with their parents. In my opinion every parent should watch this movie as well in order to see how their negative attitude can have crucial effects on the child's psychology.

"Sinav" is a movie worth seeing for. I'm sure that everyone will enjoy this synthesis of drama and comedy.