As the snow flurried, we had the far too rare pleasure of a trip to London's BFI to see a preview of microbudget British indie Exam, written and directed by Brit Stuart Hazeldine, whose made his name by rewriting such highly dubious efforts as Knowing and The Day The Earth Stood Still remake.

Now, since Knowing is one of the worst films I've paid to see ever, and which culminates in a quasi-spiritualist mish-mash of idiotic proportions, the expectations for this debut directing effort may have been understandably very low.

But - Exam has much to praise and much to dissect. A taut, pretty gripping thriller, it is neither original nor particularly intelligent. But it is ingenious - clever without any depth. Most notably - it's a 35mm slick film shot in ONE ROOM. We never leave. Certainly - it's not cinema in its fullest form. But Knowing had all the money in the world, massive CGI effects and big visual scope - and was dull as dishwater.

A recent review of Exam aptly pointed out that the filmmaker has aimed for a safe B+ and been successful. Absolutely, this is no game changer. But as an indication that tight screenwriting and superb editing are skills that many big budget films clearly lack, it's a great calling card - transparently the director's intention.