Gone In 7 Seconds
Everyone has had a Rubik’s Cube at some point in their lives. Solving these puzzle cubes is no mean feat and on average, it takes around 3 hours to solve one. For others, the quick-fix comes from peeling stickers off the old models and moving them around. For Mark Park, Feliks Zemdegs and many other competitors around the world, they’ve taken Rubik’s Cube solving to a whole new level. With frighteningly quick times and blurred hand movements that leave you awe-inspired, The Speed Cubers is an incredibly engaging and fascinating documentary. It’s also one with a beautifully heartwarming theme that expands beyond its initial ideas to showcase the bond shared by two of the world’s best competitors, Max Park and Feliks Zemdegs. Beginning at the 2019 World Championships, Speed Cubers wastes little time building an air of excitement and plunging viewers head-first into this world. From here, we cut back 2 months to hone in on two of the world’s best competitors preparing for the upcoming games. Australian-born 24 year old Feliks Zemdegs is no doubt one of the world’s best, holding a World Record for the fastest time solving a 3×3 cube. Hot on his heels though is American-born Max Park. With him developing autism from a young age, his parents gave him a Rubik’s Cube as a way of developing his motor skills. Realizing he may have some serious talent, they brought him along to a Speed Cubing competition to try and help his social skills. What follows is an unlikely tale of friendly competition and lifelong bonds formed within this welcoming community. What begins as a simple, quirky showcase of speed cubing soon expands beyond that to really hone in on the budding sense of community felt at these competitions. This human touch is ultimately what makes this such a good film. It’s not a 2 hour deep-dive into the subject, nor is it particularly informative on the history of Rubik’s Cubes. Instead, there’s a distinct human touch to this one that helps propel it into something really special. And at 40 minutes, you should absolutely check this out.
