Box

Year: 2009

Grade: B

Country: USA

Director: Kelly

Review

from the director of donnie darko. it’s a good story which i took as a sort of parable about karma and the way we live our everyday life. the premise is: stranger drops a box on a couple’s front door with a card that says he will come calling later that day. sure enough he does and he explains it like this: if you press the button in the box you’ll get $1 million free and clear and someone you don’t know will die. or you can return the box without pressing the button and you’ll get $100 for your time. you have 24hrs to make your decision. it seems ridiculous, but this kind of thing happens daily for all of us. while i was at the theater i had a non dissimilar decision to make. should i, out of my own self-interest and laziness, leave the candy wrappers in the cup holder in the seat, or should i pick it up and throw it in the trash like a “civilized” human being. no money or lives were on the line but it was a decision where my self-interest would have meant work for someone else. 8 or 9 times out of 10 i would throw the trash away, i worked in a theater so i have a keen understanding of what it’s like to pick up other people’s shit in the dark, but this time i didn’t.

it also reminded me of the short story “the monkey’s paw” which is essentially about the unintended consequences of getting those things that we wish for.

overall the film had a good atmosphere to it and was thoughtful and creepy. the ending left me scratching my head a bit, but i think i got it more or less figured out. good film, not as good as donnie darko.

Watched in theater