Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- absurdist
- deadpan
- playful
- cult movie night
- experimental comedy night
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Man's bizarre confinement is intercut with Escargot Man's preparations for a wrestling match in a dusty Mexican town.
The Man presses phallic wall protuberances and receives random objects, then organizes them into an elaborate escape apparatus.
The brightly illuminated room has no visible doors or windows, making its blankness the central visual and comic constraint.
The room's strange projections and materializing objects motivate the imprisoned man's increasingly elaborate attempts to discover how escape works.
Films like Symbol, and why
The Meaning of Life
shared surrealist comedy, absurd visual gags, and a protagonist trapped in an inexplicable situation
Being John Malkovich
shared deadpan absurdism, eccentric physical comedy, and bizarre worlds governed by arbitrary rules
Cube
shared surreal comedy, minimalist imprisonment, and escalating attempts to understand an impossible environment
Tampopo
shared Japanese absurdism, grotesque playfulness, and unconventional comic experimentation
Movie Details
- Director
- Hitoshi Matsumoto
- Release Date
- 2009-09-12
- Runtime
- 93 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (143)
Cast
- Hitoshi Matsumoto
- David Quintero
- Carlos C. Torres
- Luis Accinelli
- Lilian Tapia
- Ivana Wong Yuen-Chi
- Adriana Fricke
- Salam Diagne
- Arkangel De La Muerte
- Matcho Panpu
Common questions
- What is Symbol about?
- A bewildered man turns an impossible white-room prison into a slapstick laboratory while a masked wrestler faces his own strange ritual of preparation.
- What is Symbol like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Symbol as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Symbol violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Symbol as mild.
- Which films are like Symbol?
- Films with a similar feel include The Meaning of Life, Being John Malkovich, Cube, and Tampopo.
- How long is Symbol?
- Symbol runs 93 minutes.
