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.
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
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."
By James Croot, Flicks.co.nz
I havent seen the film, but does one of them press the button and either the presser dies the instant die or the spouse watching it being pressed dies?
Worse than the Directors Cut of Donnie Darko (which I hated after loving Donnie Darko in cinemas). I can't beleive that anyone in their right mind would pay to finance what is a 2 hour (and it felt longer!) Twilight Zone episode. It's a very old science fiction story, and I would have thought that with Kelly at the helm it could have been at least a little more interesting. Diaz bored (and boring) for the whole film. Marsden can't act. Star of the show is the hole in Langella's face, but it feels like every camera shot is designed solely to show off the make up. For a film about moral dilemas, surely the aim would be to make us FEEL something. I spent 2 hours not giving a d@mn about any of the characters or their choices. Two thumbs down.
I havnt seen this movie but as soon as it comes out im whatching it looks awsome as . . .
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.
Movie Marmite. Many will be perplexed. Donnie Darko fans should lap it up.
An artistic fiasco that cuts across genre lines and all logic to become, perhaps, an instant midnight movie.
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.
“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.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 20th May 2010.
Release date: May 20th 2010.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
