“THE BOX”
Based upon the short story “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson
Written For The Screen and Directed by Richard Kelly
**1/2 (two and a half stars)
Well…I can easily say that I have not seen a film quite like this one before.
For a movie this bizarre, this unhinged, this disturbing, and also this conceptually disjointed for nearly half of its running time, I have to express to you, dear readers, that I have found a certain affection towards it. I can’t say that this movie was actually a good film and it is indeed too well made to be a bad film. It lies somewhere in between, within a universe of its own making, and somehow, I have the feeling that Director Richard Kelly would have not wanted it any other way.
“The Box,” released theatrically in 2009, was at first considered to be somewhat of a comeback film for Kelly, who struck independent film gold with his 2001 debut feature “Donnie Darko” (perhaps a future entry for “Savage Cinema Debuts” as I still have not seen this film). Unfortunately, Kelly fell out of favor with critics with his hugely maligned and barely screened 2007 second feature “Southland Tales.” Critical reaction to “The Box” was mixed at best and the box office receipts didn’t set the world on fire either. So, now, aside from home video release, it seems to have found a new life (or lives) as it seems to screen eternally upon cable television. I had been aware of this film’s uniquely grim premise as well as the baffled critical response towards it yet I never really found myself with the impetus to sit down and watch it for myself. That is, until my wife happened to catch it one day and could not wait to inform me of, what she considered to be, its horrid quality.
Recently, on one evening at a considerably late hour, I became intrigued enough to give the film a full viewing and while I could easily witness elements and sections of that “horrid quality,” it indeed wove a dark spell which made for almost hypnotically compelling viewing as I simply could not turn myself away.
Set in Virginia circa 1976, “The Box” stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as Norma and Aaron Lewis, a thirtysomething married couple and parents to the young Walter (played by Sam Oz Stone). Early one morning, the Lewis family discovers a box has been mysteriously placed upon their doorstep, adorned solely with a note which reads, “Mr. Steward will call upon you at 5:00 p.m.” As promised, at 5:00 p.m. on the dot, Norma answers the doorbell and is greeted by the unnerving sight of Arlington Steward (an excellent Frank Langella), a man who is elegantly dressed, possesses impeccable manners and diction yet also carries the gruesome image of the absence of part of his face.
Seated at the kitchen table, Steward offers Norma a proposition. Regarding the mysterious box, Steward informs Norma that if she and her husband push the button of top of the box, they would obtain a sum of 1 million dollars…tax free. Yet, of course, there is a catch. If they push the button, not only would they receive the money, a person, completely unknown to them, would die. Steward gives Norma a healthy temptation of a crisp 100 dollar bill, 24 hours to think over the proposal and assurance that they could easily refuse, allowing Steward to take his offer elsewhere.
Although Aaron and Norma initially scoff at this proposition, they begin to seriously consider pressing the ominous button as times have grown financially tighter for their family. Aaron, a NASA scientist, is sadly rejected for a much hoped for admission into an astronaut program while Norma’s status as a private school English teacher combined with Walter’s rising school tuition costs contributes heavily to their mounting economic strain.
Eventually, after the 24 hours have passed and much deliberation between the couple, Norma and Aaron push the button and as promised, they receive a payment of 1 million dollars. And also as promised, someone they have never met dies.
With regards to any further plot description, I must end it at this point so as not to produce any spoilers and believe me, I would hate to ruin this film for you by giving away too much. But, I am able to continue in the following fashion by admitting that for its first hour, “The Box” is pretty solid stuff. Kelly establishes the film’s “Twilight Zone” set up with equal doses of dark fantasy with a difficult moral dilemma and the paranoia he creates and maintains indeed becomes a frighteningly claustrophobic experience. The mystery of the titular box, Arlington Steward, and the ensuring consequences from pushing the button develop at the pace of a progressively creeping doom that is deeply engaging. For that first hour, “The Box” is precisely the type of thriller I enjoy the most. Ones that disturb, that are decidedly more psychological and even dreamlike. Ones that utilize the gifts of strong storytelling instead of shocks and gratuitous gore.
Kelly also employs strong cinematography that evokes the mid 1970’s effectively. Everything is washed in a color scheme of gold, yellow and brown, making everything appear like that 1970s wood paneling you would find upon a Buick station wagon. I was also thoroughly surprised to learn that the film’s unnerving music score was composed by Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Regine Chassagne who, in collaboration with Owen Pallett, created a soundscape of relentless menace.
As much as I was enjoying the film thus far, there were serious obstacles, most notably Cameron Diaz. Now, Diaz is an actress I have liked ever since her auspicious debut in “The Mask” (1994). Over her career, with films as diverse as Stacy Title’s “The Last Supper” (1995), The Farrelly brothers’ “There’s Something About Mary” (1998), Spike Jonze’s “Being John Malkovich” (1999), Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday” (1999), Cameron Crowe’s “Vanilla Sky” (2001) and Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs Of New York” (2002), she has more than shown her comedic and dramatic range. Yet, somehow, Diaz is hysterically undone by nothing less than a howler of a Southern accent that seriously damages any credibility she has within the context of this story and film. When she is silent, her face and body language is compelling. But then, she speaks and it’s all over.
By contrast and faring much better is James Marsden, an actor I have I typically found to be horribly wooden, much like Dermot Mulroney. As Aaron Lewis, he shows surprising energy, weight and confidence. He found ways to keep this odd and soon to be extremely head spinning material grounded and it was his believability that assisted me in following through to the film’s conclusion.
Frank Langella is far and away the strongest element in “The Box.” As Arlington Steward, Langella, though his deliberately quiet and slow delivery, is supremely sinister. Do not let this man’s fastidiousness fool you for a moment. Steward is nothing less than proverbial the wolf at the door, the man who silently deposits nightmares upon your porches. It would have been so easy for Langella to take this role and run with it in the same over the top direction that Al Pacino performed in Taylor Hackford’s “The Devil’s Advocate” (1997). Thankfully, Langella brilliantly runs in the opposite direction with his serpentine stares and languid body movements and he is truly mesmerizing to regard.
So far in this review, I have been teasing you a bit with how much I enjoyed the first hour of “The Box,” a feeling which was indeed alerting you to the cinematic misfortunes contained within the second hour. Let’s just say that when Aaron and Norma Lewis separately arrive at a library, “The Box” flies off the rails and into an entirely different world.
While I cannot and would not even dream of going into any specifics, from this point and for its remainder, “The Box” takes a conceptual quantum leap of such significance and abruptness that I felt as if a reel of the film had been edited out! Dear readers, believe it or not, I have even watched this film in its entirety twice, as well as some bits and pieces here and there over and again, and the film’s second half remains this jumble of assorted moments that are conceptually confusing on a cinematic storytelling level. How do certain characters arrive in one place and then appear in another? Why was this character here when they really should have been there? Even the various performances suddenly become out of sync with each other as some characters are newly histrionic when they were once on an even-keel and they exist next to others that seem to remain upon as straight a path as they were during the film’s first hour.
What the seemingly disparate elements of lighting, NASA’s explorations of Mars, random nose bleeds, water coffin triptychs, themes of vanity, physical ailments and disabilities, redemption and eternal damnation have to do with each other all becomes clear by the conclusion, it is in the way it arrives at those connections that makes “The Box” feel more than a little scatter shot. Additionally, the film's special effects, designed to produced sensations of wonder and horror are sadly weak at best and laughable at worst.
“The Box” finally regains its footing with its deeply disturbing and emotionally wrought climax as Arthur and Norma are given one final selection of choices, each decision leading to irrevocable consequences. But by that point, the movie is just about finished and how much could a late-film rescue matter?
And yet, I remained captivated and at times, transfixed. There is no denying that this Kelly’s film is effective and somehow, throughout it all, it seemed as if Kelly was delivering the film he had intended to make all along. Furthermore, he was even able to indulge his inner Stanley Kubrick with sections that visually nod to images from “Dr. Strangelove” (1964), “The Shining” (1980) and even “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968). At least, Kelly aimed his sights highly.
For all of its many faults, flaws, inconsistencies and confounding oddities, “The Box” was compulsively watchable and held me strongly within its grasp. As I previously stated, the film is dreamlike, most especially during that second hour when logic has flown out of the window. In fact the entire film contains the sensation of a bad dream that has long burrowed under our skin long after waking and you just cannot shake it.
And somehow, it was the rare kind of bad dream that I would not mind experiencing again...cinematic warts and all.
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