The Box

The second slightly odd film I've seen recently is much more mainstream - 'The Box' stars Cameron Diaz no less, with James Marsden and Frank Langella. The film is made by the same guy who directed 'Donnie Darko', and has a similar unworldly vibe. Diaz and Marsden play the Lewises, an unremarkable couple living in mid-1970s Virginian suburbia. One day they recieve a package containing a box with a button on top and an explanation from Langella's mysterious Arlington Steward; press the button and you will get a million dollars, but someone will die. Or leave the box alone for a day and nothing will happen.

This is something of a mystical film that uses a lot of misdirection, Twilight Zone style (the film is indeed based on an episode of that TV series) music and hinting at science fiction concepts to create an unsettling atmostphere. Marsden's character works at NASA, on a project looking for life on Mars. The NSA are in town, obfuscating, spinning and behaving mysteriously as they might a typical X-Files episode. All the while there's this box, the button and what pressing it might mean. And once that decision's been made, the consequences.

Just who is Steward working for that they would go to such trouble just to test the resolve of the Lewis family? The NSA, a shadowy organisation within the government, Martians, or perhaps an even higher power?

Enjoyable, but I'm sure if you think about it too much it doesn't make sense.