Review by Ben Chamberlain
Richard Kelly is a cinematic enigma. His films challenge the viewer like no others and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re a bit slow after seeing any of his films. His career started on Donnie Darko, a film that has since been hailed as the best of this generation, a film loved and adored by film fanatics across the globe. He followed this up with Southland Tales (a film I absolutely adore), a film that got booed at Cannes, got delayed for 2 years and was eventually released to extremely negative and harsh reviews. Now the man of much confusion and mystery has returned with his most mainstream film to date, The Box.
Don’t let the mainstream tag fool you though. This is Kelly at his ambiguous best. Kelly’s films are some of the most discussed on the web, his films are jam packed full of clues, meanings, signatures and questions but they never give answers. Watching Donnie Darko you could come to 20 different reasons as to what its all about. The Box follows down this line and is almost has confusing and head-hurting to watch as Donnie Darko. On the surface you’d think this is just a simple Hollywood thriller, a couple get a box, they push the button on the box they get $1,000,000 and someone they don’t know dies. Simple? Hardly.
The Box’s success lies in its slow-burn story. Whilst advertisements clearly had it as a gothic horror meets old-school thriller, this is quite the opposite. It’s a slow-burn drama, a drama that builds and builds and unfolds at a slow yet tense pace. This is exactly what Kelly does. He doesn’t want people that don’t have patience viewing his film. So he tests them. If you can last the first hour, then you’re rewarded with a cracking last hour that will leave you buzzing and thinking. The first hour is tedious, even I struggled to stay still through it. Lots of dialogue, lots of drawn out scenes, lots of odd-shots. Just lots of stuff that build tension. It is literally Darko all over-again.
However, unlike Darko where you kept watching because it was interesting and engaging, you will start to wonder when The Box is finally going to pick up a gear and thrill us like the trailers do. It’s frustrating to watch and even though it’s frustrating it also extremely important. Which is way I’m not angry that an hour of my time was wasted on slow-burn, because it is important to the story, it is important for the viewer. Without the first hour, then the next hour would just seem weird and out of place in the context of the film. Even then it still does in a way.
The last hour is for film purists and film purists only. I know I said you would be rewarded after the first hour, but unless you love ambiguous cinema, then you’ll more than likely walk out hating this film with a strong sense of passion. The Box has been made for that tiny 5% of the population that love strange, convoluted cinema. Unlike Darko which reached the mainstream through word of mouth, The Box is more like Kelly’s evil little film Southland Tales. A film so ambitious, so risky and so over-the-top that you’ll think “why did I just waste my money on that?”.
Whilst being all these things, The Box still remains simple, which sets it apart from Kelly’s other work. In this it is the hardest film I’ve ever had to review. Trying to put such a confusing movie into words is like trying to cook microwave popcorn without a microwave. It just can’t be done, hence this review is more a rambling than giving you a clear indication of whether or not you should see it. Even after all this I still can’t tell you whether or not you should see it.
The Box is the most difficult film of the year. On one hand you should see it cause nobody does cinema like Richard Kelly, it is an extremely original and intense experience. On the other hand, the chance of you hating this film is very high. Only a small percentage of people can actually appreciate this film and love it for what it is, a confusing, challenging, convoluted mess. Do you love Southland Tales? If you do, then this is probably the Kelly film you want, but if Donnie Darko is more your style, then you’ll find this Donnie Darko-lite.
Submitted by Milky-Shee
01/11/2009
5
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