In 2001 he was responsible for one of the best movies of the year. In 2007 he released one of the worst of the decade. Southland Tales was so bad by all rights it should have put Richard Kelly in director jail for good, Donnie Darko be damned, but he’s getting another chance. He’s making another movie called The Box.
The guys over at Twitch have scored a first look at The Box, including that picture there to your right, which would appear to be the literal box in question. It stars James Marsden and Cameron Diaz who are faced with a dilemma: A mysterious box shows up at their door. If they press the button inside it they get enough money to save their son, but someone else in the world will die. They push it, hear gunshots, and then set out to solve the murder they’ve caused.
Kelly’s obsession with preachy pseudo-coincidence and fate is what fucked up his last movie, and that plot description is rife with it. I can easily see the whole thing devolving into Southland Tales 2, and Southland Tales has already scarred me beyond recognition. It’ll take more than a half-assed plot like that to get me to see another Richard Kelly movie. I’ll always love Donnie Darko, but until Kelly blows my mind with something awesome I’m considering it a fluke and him a self-important hack.
