The Box Presents a Muddled But Intriguing Social Experiment

I avoid horror movies as a general rule. However, I was killing time with my cousin during a visit to my grandparents’, and the 2009 Richard Kelly thriller The Box came on after Date Night, the comedy we’d been watching, so we decided to stick it out even though my uncle warned us it was “freaky”. I figured with a PG-13 rating, it couldn’t be too traumatizing. And really, it wasn’t, though I still was a little nervous about going to sleep that night for fear a nightmare might creep in…

Cameron Diaz is Norma Lewis, a sweet, pretty Southern schoolteacher with a mangled foot. She and her husband Arthur (James Marsden), who works for NASA, enjoy a comfortable, if rather fiscally shaky, life with their pre-teen son Walter (Sam Oz Stone). Christmas is on the horizon when a mysterious package arrives on the porch. Inside the plain brown box is a contraption and a calling card. The Lewises are about to receive a visit from the enigmatic Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), a polite but ominous man with a deformed face. His task is to inform them of the “financial opportunity” presented by the box that they have been given. If they press the button, someone they don’t know will die, and they will receive a million dollars. They can’t tell anyone else about the offer or the deal is off. They have a day to decide.

Norma and Arthur are decent, salt-of-the-earth people, and it’s a little hard to believe that they would seriously consider this long-distance homicide. But a combination of disbelief that it will actually work and a sudden downturn in their fortunes making the money seem particularly palatable pushes them to accept the deal. And then the trouble really begins.

This is a mostly psychological thriller that asks its audience to consider whether they would accept such an offer and what the ramifications might be of a society filled with people who would do such a thing. It’s not an especially violent movie; we hear rumblings of a string of homicides but don’t really see much. It reminded me a bit of Stephen King’s Needful Things, only here, the temptation is far less personalized, and most of the terrible things that happen are a result of people being forced to make a difficult decision. It’s a sick experiment, and whoever is pulling the strings has incredible power.

Langella gives the most compelling performance as the serene but incredibly creepy courier. Is he behind all of this, or is he too caught up in something bigger than himself? While he is the one continually setting events into motion, it is difficult to determine whether he is truly a villain. Diaz and Marsden also deliver solid performances and are very believable as a couple. The Lewises are flawed but likable, and it’s disturbing to watch them descend into near-madness in the aftermath of their fateful decision.

Aside from the main three, I was most interested in Arthur’s colleague Norm Cahill (James Rebhorn) and the eerie family babysitter. I wasn’t too impressed with Stone’s performance, but he wasn’t really in the movie all that much. More than the side characters, the pop culture references caught my attention. The movie includes several clips of shows from the 1970s, which roots us in a very particular time, and the search for alien life is a major thread throughout the film. In some ways, I was also reminded of The Day the Earth Stood Still, as I got the impression that some sort of advanced civilization was observing humanity and unsure of whether it deserved to remain in existence.

The movie does get pretty weird toward the end, and there are at least a couple of sequences that seem confusing and out of place. At times it seemed to me as though it was trying to be two different movies. Ultimately, though, it’s an interesting rumination on human nature. The particulars of the experiment don’t always make a lot of sense, but the general idea behind it is compelling. It’s a make-you-think kind of movie, and if nothing else, I expect that those who watch it may think twice the next time they are tempted to do something that would benefit themselves and hurt someone else.

Frost / Nixon Is At Its Best When the Leads Play Hardball

Last year, I was so ready for the Oscars, I managed to see every contender for Best Picture, not to mention quite a few nominees in other categories. This year, I was much more lax. One of the movies that fell by the wayside was Frost / Nixon, which piqued my curiosity, but not enough to make it essential viewing. I amended this oversight today.

Frost / Nixon, originally a stage play with the same two stars, was written by Peter Morgan, and the film is directed by Ron Howard, who has helmed some of my favorite movies, including the underrated Far and Away. Michael Sheen, who portrays intrepid interviewer David Frost, won me over as Tony Blair in 2006’s The Queen; he seems to have a knack for playing real-life wet-behind-the-ears personages. And I’d seen enough of Frank Langella as disgraced President Richard Nixon to be impressed with the way he embodies such an iconic role.

More than anything, this movie boils down to the two of them, together or apart, carefully plotting out what they will say to each other as teams of advisors hover fretfully. Their tactical maneuvers put me in mind of a boxing match, with Frost the Rocky-like underdog trying to find his adversary’s weak spot. I’ve always thought of Nixon, especially during this time period, as an unscrupulous, defeated figure, but throughout most of the movie he comes across as confident, courteous, charismatic and witty.

As I watched his interaction with Frost, I also found myself thinking of V, the sci-fi series that recently began airing on ABC. In both cases, the journalist is called upon to refrain from asking uncomfortable questions. The task falls to Frost to figure out how to prompt illuminating answers without enraging his subject. As when he played Blair, Sheen shows us a man who seems in over his head, suddenly thrust into a spotlight much too big for him. There’s less verbal ping-pong than the previews led me to believe, since all of the juiciest bits occur during the last portion of their interview, which stretched over several days.

Hence, the movie has a slow build to it that may try the patience of some. It’s interesting to get a peek into all of the background work that goes into an interview like this - weeks of research, millions of dollars in expenditures. But during most of their encounters, the two men are quite cordial to each other; it’s a good hour and a half before the sparring starts in earnest. Even when it’s all over with, there’s a definite sense of mutual respect.

Among the supporting cast, the clear standout is Kevin Bacon as Jack Brennan, Nixon’s deeply devoted, extremely conservative wingman. He proves an even greater stumbling block to Frost than Nixon himself, as he exercises constant vigilance in his attempts to protect the former President’s good name. On the other side of the fence is Bob Zelnick, Frost’s right-hand man. Portrayed by Oliver Platt, he’s a bundle of jokey energy, always trying to lessen the tension with a laugh but quite obviously concerned that this project could kill his career.

Rebecca Hall turns in a nice performance as Caroline Cushing, the sweet Englishwoman who quickly falls into Frost’s inner circle. Unfortunately, as a fan of Diane Sawyer (played by Kate Jennings Grant), I was disappointed in how little this ace reporter was given to do. It almost made me wonder why she was even included as a character.












If you have an interest in the role of the media in shaping society’s opinions, Frost / Nixon is a fascinating film to watch. While bits of it are a tad dry and dozy, the movie as a whole is an intriguing peek at an important slice of recent history, anchored by two outstanding performances.