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:

Box | Button | Young Child | Mysterious Stranger | 24 Hours

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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 | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:PG

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:

Continuity: When being followed down through the corridors of the library, they enter a main hallway where it shows his followers coming from two different directions. Yet just a second before all five of them were coming from the same direction as he was.

Quotes:

NSA operative: Sir? If you don't mind my asking... why a box?
Arlington Steward: Your home is a box. Your car is a box on wheels. You drive to work with it. you drive home with it. You sit in your home, staring into a box. It erodes your sole, while the box that is your body inevitably withers... then dies. Where upon it is place in the ultimate box, to slowly decompose.
NSA operative: It's quite depressing, if you think of it that way.
Arlington Steward: Don't think of it that way... think of it as a temporary state of being.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Bell Bottom Blues

Like it, or like it not, the truth behind the Box

This film just opened a film festival in Lund, Sweden, weeks before the official release. Although the film didn't make a massive impression on me, I definitely found it worthwhile.

It is a film that makes you think. The pace is slow, scary at times and gradually building a mood of mystery. Although confusing in the beginning, there is an explanation to it, like it or like it not. Satisfying to some, adding to the feeling of mystery to others.

It would be interesting to see the original short film the plot is based upon, in particular to see how the message could be delivered in a more condensed manner.

James and Frank were convincing, although Cameron doesn't quite deliver, perhaps not her genre.