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Black Box, directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, is a Twilight Zone-esque work of contemporary science fiction with elements of horror, suspense, and family drama.
Before the movie begins, a car crash shattered a happy family of three, killing the mother and leaving the father with severe damage to both short and long-term memory. We pick up several months later, when Nolan (Mamoudou Athie) is doing his best to care for his adorable daughter Ava (Amanda Christine), but due to the extent of his amnesia, it's more like the other way around. He can no longer work up to his former standard as a photographer, he has no memories of his beloved wife, and he needs a ton of post-it reminders and his daughter's help just to make it through a day.
Desperate, he seeks the help of a doctor with an experimental technique that may be able to unlock his memory. And then things get weird...
The main characters are really likable and have a lovely rapport with each other, the scary bits are nicely scary, the suspenseful bits are really tense, the screenplay is clever and nicely constructed, and the whole movie is very satisfying. All the actors in the almost entirely Black cast are excellent, but Mamadou Athie carries the movie on his shoulders and is especially impressive.
For the horror non-fans, the horror aspect is that the memory technique puts Nolan into his memories, but weird stuff starts to invade them. It's creepy/unsettling/scary rather than gory.
Cut for massive spoilers for the entire movie.
( Read more... )
Free on Amazon Prime. At least it definitely is in the US.
Black Box
Spoilers OK in comments. If you haven't seen it and want to, don't read the comments.
Before the movie begins, a car crash shattered a happy family of three, killing the mother and leaving the father with severe damage to both short and long-term memory. We pick up several months later, when Nolan (Mamoudou Athie) is doing his best to care for his adorable daughter Ava (Amanda Christine), but due to the extent of his amnesia, it's more like the other way around. He can no longer work up to his former standard as a photographer, he has no memories of his beloved wife, and he needs a ton of post-it reminders and his daughter's help just to make it through a day.
Desperate, he seeks the help of a doctor with an experimental technique that may be able to unlock his memory. And then things get weird...
The main characters are really likable and have a lovely rapport with each other, the scary bits are nicely scary, the suspenseful bits are really tense, the screenplay is clever and nicely constructed, and the whole movie is very satisfying. All the actors in the almost entirely Black cast are excellent, but Mamadou Athie carries the movie on his shoulders and is especially impressive.
For the horror non-fans, the horror aspect is that the memory technique puts Nolan into his memories, but weird stuff starts to invade them. It's creepy/unsettling/scary rather than gory.
Cut for massive spoilers for the entire movie.
( Read more... )
Free on Amazon Prime. At least it definitely is in the US.
Black Box
Spoilers OK in comments. If you haven't seen it and want to, don't read the comments.
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