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The Box (DVD)
Year: 2009
Rating: M
Director: Richard Kelly
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Frank Langella, James Marsden
Release Date: March 10, 2010
Distributor: Warner
The Film: 3.0
The Disc: 4.0
Despite a poor premise, this film is an intriguing affair abound with strange details
Working from Richard Matheson's 1970 short story, director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) has produced a moody and visually intoxicating effort with The Box, which follows the fantastical fall from grace of Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur Lewis (James Marsden), who are offered one million dollars by a mysterious stranger (Frank Langella) just to push a button located atop a wooden box. As a consequence of their actions, however, an unknown person will die.
The Box abounds with strange, tangential details: Cameron Diaz' character has four missing toes, and Marsden is set on building a prosthesis that will allow her to walk without a limp. While odd, it makes sense when you learn that Kelly has attempted to graft the story of his parents' lives onto the plot. Diaz' foot injury is based on his mother, while Kelly's dad was famously a NASA man. Fleshing out Matheson's slim framework with his own family's experiences is an interesting touch, but Kelly is slightly hobbled by a premise unable to hold up for more than half an hour. That said, it's an intriguing affair, while a host of extras (including a commentary and featurette that play up Kelly's use of his own family history) sheds a fair amount of interesting light on proceedings.