The Box (2009/I)

Director:

Richard Kelly

Writers (WGA):

Richard Kelly (screenplay)
Richard Matheson (short story "Button, Button")

Release Date:

6 November 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

You Are The Experiment

Plot:

A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple, who know that opening it will grant them a million dollars and kill someone they don't know.

Plot Keywords:

Moral Dilemma | Supernatural | NASA | Based On Short Story | 1970s

US Showtimes:

Beverly Center Cinemas

12:45pm | 3:45 | 6:45 | 9:45

(personalize)

Cast

Cameron Diaz	...	Norma Lewis
James Marsden	...	Arthur Lewis
Frank Langella	...	Arlington Steward
James Rebhorn	...	Norm Cahill
Holmes Osborne	...	Dick Burns
Sam Oz Stone	...	Walter Lewis
Gillian Jacobs	...	Dana
Celia Weston	...	Lana Burns
Deborah Rush	...	Clymene Steward
Lisa K. Wyatt	...	Rhonda Martin
Mark S. Cartier	...	Martin Teague (as Mark Cartier)
Kevin Robertson	...	Wendel Matheson
Michele Durrett	...	Rebecca Matheson (as Michele Durett)
Ian Kahn	...	Vick Brenner
John Magaro	...	Charles

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44919) | Finland:K-13 | UK:12A | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:M | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Ireland:15A

Filming Locations:

Boston Public Library - 700 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Darko Entertainment

Trivia:

Veteran character actor, Basil Hoffman, was also in the original version of this story when "Button, Button" aired on "The Twilight Zone: Profile in Silver/Button, Button (#1.20)" (1986).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Richmond, VA was the first US state to adopt 911 as an emergency number in 1977, however this movie is set in December 1976.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Moviemaking in Virginia: Take 3 (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

MUSTANG SALLY

One heck of a mindbender

The Box is one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. To explain my experience, let me use this word picture: Imagine that you have been binging on pixie sticks and paint fumes for the last month while watching nothing but Twilight Zone reruns. The resulting coma lands you in a hospital, where the nurse seems to get a kick out of shooting adrenalin into your IV. The dream that you have while in the coma will be something like this movie.

SUMMARY: A man shows up at the door of a couple. He gives them a box with a button on it. Press the button, they will get a million dollars in cash and a person they don't know will die. I'll try not to spoil anything, but from there things devolve into a plot so intertwined and complex and purely original that it will make you question your sanity. But hey, most of us have been sane for a while now, and change is good.

PROS: Amazing storyline, overall good acting, not a slow moment once it gets going. It asks questions of human morality that are rarely, if ever asked in popular culture. This movie is deep, it has meaning. Its not summer blockbuster special effects fluff (not that there's anything wrong with that); this movie had a relatively low budget and it showed in some places. But i think it is perhaps that very thing that makes me like it so much.

CONS: The first twenty minutes, before it gets going, are really quite slow. At the end of the movie, you will be so confused that you just have to sit down and think for a good half hour. I can guarantee that this movie will not get rave reviews from your peers or most critics; it is far too strange and there aren't explosions every three seconds. In fact there are no explosions of any kind in this movie (besides your brain popping from trying to understand exactly what the heck just happened). Personally I don't think this is a bad thing, but many will.

RATING: Easily a 9/10. I have never had an experience like watching this movie. The only reason I can't give it a 10/10 is that it is just too wrapped up in itself. There are several large things left unexplained at the end that are still bugging me as I sit here writing this. But overall, this is the best experience I have had in a movie theater in quite a long time. But be warned, you will not like this movie if you can't sit back, turn on your suspension of disbelief to about 150%, and prepare your brain to do some impressive acrobatics.

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