Dvd
The Box
From the director of Donnie Darko, comes another mind-bender: Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur Lewis (James Marsden) are a suburban couple with a young kid who receive a simple wooden box with a big red button. A mysterious man (Frank Langella) comes along and tells them that they will be delivered $1 million if they press the button. The downside is that some human being, somewhere in the world, will die. Norma and Arthur have 24 hours to choose whether they want to take part in this odd trade-off.
Starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella
Directed by Richard Kelly ('Donnie Darko', 'Southland Tales')
Written by Richard Kelly [based on the short story by Richard Matheson]
Thriller, Science Fiction, Mystery, Adaptation | 1hr 55mins | Rated (M) | contains violence | Origin: USA | Official Site »
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The Talk
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Flicks review
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3
Posing the most divisive cinematic million dollar question since Redford wanted an evening alone with Demi Moore, Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) third film is another challenging, Lynchian slice of headscratching sci-fi. Lost fans bemoaning the imminent loss of their beloved series will lap up the moral conundrums, flawed characters and unexplained nosebleeds The Box offers up.
Kelly makes terrific use of the moody 1970s setting and the full frame, playing with focus to divert and direct the viewer's attention, while Canadian band Arcade Fire's haunting score adds to the rising tension. While Diaz and Marsden are solid rather than spectacular, a disfigured Langella steals the show with his seriously creepy performance.
Although the story raises a lot of interesting questions, like most Twilight Zone-esque tales (this story was originally filmed as Button Button for the TV series in 1986) it struggles with the resolution which comes across as an amalgam of The Forgotten, Drag Me To Hell, The Abyss, Stargate and The Astronaut's Wife.
Fans of Donnie Darko will lap this up but, for newbies, The Box is best summed up by a conversation between Diaz and her screen son. "You sure do ask a lot of questions." "And now you're avoiding them."
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The people's reviews
1 reviews
Press Reviews
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Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
3
I know, I know, "The Box" triumphantly qualifies for one of my favorite adjectives, "preposterous." But if you make a preposterous movie that isn't boring, I count that as some kind of a triumph.
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Empire (UK)
4
Movie Marmite. Many will be perplexed. Donnie Darko fans should lap it up.
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Hollywood Reporter
An artistic fiasco that cuts across genre lines and all logic to become, perhaps, an instant midnight movie.
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Los Angeles Times
Too bad Norma and Arthur didn't leave it on the porch. Richard Kelly's latest is no 'Donnie Darko.' The morality tale is fractured, foolish and slow as molasses.
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New York Times
“The Box,” is sincere and sinister and inevitably ambitious, a serious work that insists on its own seriousness even when it edges toward the preposterous.
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Urban Cinefile (Australia)
It's a curly can of worms that this intriguing premise involving action, reaction and consequence prises open.
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View Auckland (Matt Turner)
3
Richard Kelly's creepily atmospheric thriller starts well and is suitably dark and weird throughout but it starts to unravel in the second half and becomes increasingly pretentious and annoying.
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