tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post7487385085418092998..comments2024-03-10T07:42:17.071-04:00Comments on The Film Doctor: Pushing our buttons: a review of Richard Kelly's The BoxThe Film Doctor http://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-78317334502446771652009-11-10T08:50:38.295-05:002009-11-10T08:50:38.295-05:00Good points, Daniel. Ultimately, Donnie Darko str...Good points, Daniel. Ultimately, <i>Donnie Darko</i> strikes me as better grounded due to its emphasis on mental illness as one good explanation for Donnie's behavior. <i>The Box</i> is grounded in a <i>Twilight Zone</i> episode, a shaky foundation for starters. Then Kelly piles on all of his trademark ambiguities in a manner that reminds me increasingly of David Lynch (with its deformities and dreamlike non sequiturs). The emphasis on Norma's foot and Arlington's face evokes <i>The Elephant Man</i>. <i>Donnie Darko</i> left me still trying to piece together a full explanation of what's going on, whereas I ultimately didn't care enough to fully figure out <i>The Box</i>. It's not compelling enough, I think in part due to the flat characterization of the Lewises.The Film Doctor https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-7021937966307254442009-11-09T18:10:15.814-05:002009-11-09T18:10:15.814-05:00"It still seems like, given those powers, he ..."It still seems like, given those powers, he could find something better to do than dispensing button units all day to gullible 1970s housewives."<br /><br />Hilarious! And true...<br /><br />Well I find your description of the metaphysics as a spiritual metaphor well thought out - maybe too well thought out for Kelly to actually have meant it that way. Like Hokahey, I immediately suspected aliens from the opening titles and all of the NASA/Mars attention. Doesn't seem like they would have spent that much time talking about life elsewhere if Steward didn't represent it on earth. <br /><br />And the clincher for me was the description of his miraculous recovery - that lightning struck him and he woke up laughing maniacally. I read that as the aliens possessing his body through the lightning, almost War of the Worlds-style, with the chief alien inhabiting Steward himself. <br /><br />But you know what, the fact that we're talking (or I'm talking) about the details of this in the first place underscore the central problem with the film: it's about aliens (possibly) and alternate universes (possibly), instead of life and death and consequences and actions and hope and desperation. You know, all of those human experiences that a story with this kind of concept should have explored.Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05222052132452709301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-65988840310944868612009-11-09T15:11:46.832-05:002009-11-09T15:11:46.832-05:00Sounds good. I still think that Kelly got slammed...Sounds good. I still think that Kelly got slammed a bit harshly for <i>The Box</i>. Perhaps the extreme self-consciousness arising from creating <i>Darko</i> first led to his problems with the two more recent films. <br /><br />Thanks for the link, by the way.The Film Doctor https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-6422236444137757342009-11-09T10:58:17.021-05:002009-11-09T10:58:17.021-05:00I would need to watch Donnie Darko again in order ...I would need to watch <i>Donnie Darko</i> again in order to refer specifically to it, but I remember my students raving about it, so I watched it but I didn't really enjoy it. <br /><br />I found it much more confusing than <i>The Box</i>, which is more interesting visually for me. I found the big black rabbit kind of silly.<br /><br />A good task for me would be to re-watch <i>Darko</i> and then get back to you. Who knows, my opinion might change.Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-52867126304930619342009-11-08T22:00:22.552-05:002009-11-08T22:00:22.552-05:00Thanks, Craig. It is interesting how the wives al...Thanks, Craig. It is interesting how the wives always push the button in the movie. They end up being more crassly impulsive.<br /><br />Very funny, Hokahey. I imagine my attempt at an interpretation deserves such a response. But now that you've admitted that you prefer <i>The Box</i> to <i>Donnie Darko</i>, could you please explain that more? Most of the critics have been giving Kelly the pitying treatment as they acknowledge the brilliance of <i>Darko</i> before panning <i>The Box</i>. You are the only one I know of to go in the opposite direction.The Film Doctor https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-8542215741067695772009-11-08T19:14:51.723-05:002009-11-08T19:14:51.723-05:00FilmDr -
Thanks so much for telling me the whole...FilmDr - <br /><br />Thanks so much for telling me the whole story. The whole box test was clear to me - though I thought Arlington was some servant of aliens or that he was an alien. As for the whole library afterlife thing, thanks a lot for clarifying. <br /><br />Now, tell me, how do you know all this? Are you an alien or some agent from an alternate world? Are movies better where you come from?<br /><br />Also, is there an interpretation for that bizarre wallpaper in the Lewis's kitchen?<br /><br />Also, thanks for the <i>Donnie Darko</i> interpretation; that film just left me befuddled and I didn't care for it much. I liked <i>The Box</i> better. <br /><br />As a matter of fact, I took my daughter to see <i>A Christmas Carol</i> today, and I skipped the previews and stood in the next cinema to listen to the music for the closing credits of <i>The Box</i>. I liked the music - very B-50s-sci-fi with a little Bernard Herrmann thrown in - and as I stood there, I realized I kind of liked the movie for the most part.<br /><br />Then at dinner I was telling my wife about the movie and I told her that if Arlington came to my door with that box, I'd tell him to go fuck himself, but she said she would consider it. Just consider it, she assured me.Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-62424381056393069202009-11-08T09:40:27.777-05:002009-11-08T09:40:27.777-05:00Haven't seen this - and I won't - but I...Haven't seen this - and I won't - but I'm already envisioning the ten-second Family Guy parody, where the villain's monologue about the choice is interrupted by Peter immediately pushing the button and someone keeling over.Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01450775188328918558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-61362460923665415672009-11-08T09:03:32.877-05:002009-11-08T09:03:32.877-05:00Hokahey,
(Spoiler alert) I don't think Kelly...Hokahey,<br /><br />(Spoiler alert) I don't think Kelly intends for us to fully "get" the movie, but again there are some key differences with <i>Donnie Darko</i>. <i>Darko</i> sustains two major interpretations: 1) that Darko saves the universe, and 2) that he's crazy. Both interpretations hold up surprisingly well until the end. Also, Kelly prepares the viewer for lots of later developments through image patterns. The gunshot to the eye has many parallel shots of eyes, or a knife over Donnie's eye, or the Escher print, etc. <br /><br />In contrast, <i>The Box</i> tends to throw things out that are not so well prepared for, the characterization is less surprising, and I miss all of the time travel stuff. I got the impression that Arlington, an employee for NASA, got struck by lightning, where he died, and came back alive with half of his face missing, but now he's got mystical powers that connect him to some alternate world, perhaps related to the afterlife. He talks of his "employers" obliging him to conduct this button unit business. The employers could be some Kafkaesque bureaucracy of higher powers that seem to blend in with NSA and covert government agencies. The button units are a "test" of humanity to see if they can resist killing each other off for greed. If enough people fail the test (and clearly they don't do that well in the course of the movie), then the higher powers might have to exterminate all of humanity. Once you do push the button, you face all kinds of wicked consequences, usually the torment of your child in exchange for the life of the wife, something that took place when Norma presses the button early on. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Arlington gives Arthur at taste of the afterlife when he gets to choose between three water columns that suggest the moral choice between heaven and hell (and it suggests <i>Let's Make a Deal</i>). The heavy use of water imagery is consistent with <i>Darko</i>. Arlington's big underground lair appears to have water inserted on the edges of the mise en scene. The portals take the form of water in the swimming pool too, and in the bathtub when Walter returns from the other world.<br /><br />Arlington has many spies for his organization, hence the difficulty Arthur has in investigating the guy, and people get nosebleeds under Arlington's influence. The spies or employees under Arlington have a slightly zombified <i>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</i> feel to them. They lurk in hotels and libraries. They move in coordinated patterns as needed.<br /><br />I've been to that Richmond public library by the way. I guess(?) Arlington gave Arthur a taste of the watery afterlife to make the future shooting of his wife more palatable? <br /><br />The ending of the film bothered me the most. There's nothing more cheaply wrenching than threatening a child (who has no interest or character in the film otherwise) with blindness and deafness just so we can endure one last scene where Diaz and Marsden can go through a painful decision to off her to save little Walter. It is cheap, common, and low, a forced climax. And what are the police doing in that final scene if the higher Arlington organization quickly bails out Arthur for murdering his wife? What are they going in this movie? Are they chickenfeed? <br /><br />At the last moment, Arlington stands outside of his fancy car and tips his hat. Tips his hat at what? To broadcast what a cool mysterious villain he is? He is the kind of guy who can hang out in your breakfast nook at the end of the movie, say ominous things, and walk away. What a metaphysical properly-dressed bad-ass. It still seems like, given those powers, he could find something better to do than dispensing button units all day to gullible 1970s housewives.The Film Doctor https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-39296041056592477632009-11-07T20:55:34.337-05:002009-11-07T20:55:34.337-05:00I agree. This film tries too hard to be enigmatic ...I agree. This film tries too hard to be enigmatic - and it doesn't try hard enough to satisfy. I sure wanted more answers. Can you explain the whole thing to me, FilmDr? <br /><br />An element I did like about it is that there were moments when it felt like a B sci-fi movie from the 50s or an <i>Outer Limits</i> episode: wooden acting, slow pacing, oddball but eerie music, cheap, tacky sets.<br /><br />What was with the wallpaper in the couple's kitchen??? Yikes! All those huge ovals. Something symbolic?<br /><br />The whole library thing threw me.<br /><br />I know this is based on the story and a <i>Twilight Zone</i> episode based on the story - but it's also like the episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" - in which the aliens conquer earth by getting humans to kill each other out of fear and suspicion. That aspect of this movie seemed so outdated and done before.<br /><br />Again, can you explain the whole thing to me? I read every word of your review and your assessments are right on, but I want somebody to tell me the whole story.Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com