“The first week after “”fall back”” is always so trippy. I went to the early movie (12:30!) and outside looks like I just got back from the 4:00ish show. WTF?
Kinda apprehensive about going to see The Box, the latest offering from Richard Kelly. Wasn’t sure where it’d fit on the Donnie Darko to Southland Tales spectrum (his two previous films). Although really excited about actually being able to see one his films on the big screen. Speaking of, before I go further, I hear there’s a midnight Donnie Darko at Coolige Corner. Extremely tempted, but wont go that far that late by myself. If anyone is actually reading this and wants to go, drop me a line. End tangent.
Verdict? It was no Donnie Darko (and I never really expect anything else to ever be) but I really enjoyed it. I think Kelly learned a lot from …Tales about what does and doesnt work, and how to try to recapture that Darko feel without trying too hard. The story was a lot more streamlined for the most part. I could follow it, but was still surprised by every turn (even ones I saw coming). There was a good chunk of it, though, that didnt really make much sense. At that point, I stopped trying to figure it out, then stopped trying to follow, and just tried to absorb as much as I could to process later once we saw where everything ended up. That proved to be an effective strategy. It wrapped up pretty well, and from reading up on it later, I think I was as close as I was ever gonna get to figure out that weirdness.
I got to wondering what Kelly’s feeling towards this whole thing is. Is there a deep meaning behind every little detail, or does he just think its kinda cool? After reading this article on IMDB, it seems like he just thinks its cool, trying to add a sci-fi element to the story. I can totally respect and understand that. I’ve had hour long conversations about Donnie Darko on multiple occasions, and could possibly do that for The Box as well. I kinda like knowing that at the end of those discussions, there really isnt a right or wrong answer. Hell, even if I sat down with Richard Kelly for an hour (which would be OMG amazing), Im not sure I’d get anywhere further than I am now.
To go a bit deeper down the philosophical rabbit hole, another thing that I really liked is that while a lot of it is kinda effed up, there’s a logical sense to it, like its not as messed up as it seems. Or at least there’s reason behind why things went down the way they did. Yeah Im prolly not making any \m/ sense. I’ll move on.
Really liked the cast–Camerian Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella. They all fit quite well. Diaz and Marsden were so believable that I kinda came close to almost crying at the end. Also thought the setting gave such a great feel to the movie.
I think it was a Sat afternoon well spent. Def worth a watch if you like Donnie Darko, just dont expect it to be as good.
The Box – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n (I’ll likely round it up to 4 when I lable the DVD I’ll inevitably get)”