Review of The Box (2009) by Chads. — 07 Nov 2009

"In the Cut", Jane Campion's poorly received feminist thriller is remembered, if at all, for Meg Ryan's surprising nude scenes, more so than the manner in which Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse", a novel taught by Ryan's English professor character, leaps off the page and encroaches its way into her everyday life.

"In the Cut" climaxes with Franny being driven by her assailant, literally, to the lighthouse, where attempted murder will eventuate itself. "The Box" borrows liberally from the Australian auteur's narrative highwire act, as Norma(Cameron Diaz), a college instructor, like Franny, teaches a work of literature(Jean-Paul Satre's 1944 play "No Exit"), that insinuates itself into a literal metaphor at the apex of a life or death situation.

Whereas the Campion film was a deconstruction of the thriller, a feminization of the male narrative, "The Box" merely aims to be smarter than your average sci-fi film. And it is, sort of. At times, the filmmaker seemingly paraphrases Arthur C.

Clarke's quote about technology being indistinguishable from magic, in which the "Donnie Darko" helmer's storytelling wavers between cerebral and cerebrally crazy, and cerebrally crazy and outright loony.

But maybe it's not his fault, maybe it's the story itself(adapted from a Richard Matheson short), whose aliens conduct tests much more ambitious than your standard full body probe. "The Box" finally loses its shape when Arthur(James Marsden) and Norma go to the library; that's where generic major studio filmmaking bites the dust.

Depending on who you are, that's either a good or bad thing. It's flawed like how Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain" was flawed; both films bear the mark of a personal voice, which sometimes say the craziest things.