Movie Monday: Because October Needs More Thrills (Black Box movie review)

2020… welp, it’s a year like no other, innit?

Still, we do the best we can; we… adapt, certainly but also try to maintain as much of a sense of normalcy as possible. (Honestly, it’s that, or give up, and quitting is so not an option.)

Anyway, that's why I've been trying to do some of the “normal” October stuff. (I mean, trick-or-treating, or the adult version—getting costumed up and partying till the wee hours—is totally out of the equation, but the less-people-y stuff? Like, solo, or with my nearest-and-dearest? Still do-able.)

So, in a year that's all about surviving-from-the-safety-of-home? Reading and watching seasonally-chilling fare throughout the month is a no-brainer… which brings me to tonight's watch, Black Box, from the Blumhouse (streaming on Amazon).

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A young woman introduces her emotional husband to their newborn daughter… a tender family moment touchingly captured on video.

Fade out—then back in—to the same man (Nolan), several years later... seemingly sort of lost in the business of getting dressed in the morning. His daydreaming is interrupted by his young daughter (Ava), now seven or eight years old… who proceeds to remind him not only of the time, but also of his impending work appointment, the fact that she cannot be late for school, and the facial expressions he should make at his interview... all while she finishes tying the necktie he couldn't quite seem to navigate. 

(It's a sweet scene, but clearly, something not-quite-right is goin’ on here; we just don’t really know what, yet, or how bad things are.)

A scene or two later, though, we begin to understand: Nolan has some sort of brain issue (cancer? trauma? we still don't know), leaving him struggling to remember who he is (or much of anything, at all, frankly, if the post-it notes on cupboard doors are any indication), and his wife has died, leaving little Ava a sort of caretaker for her dad.

Making matters worse, Nolan is not only virtually unemployable, in his present condition, but his malfunctioning brain is causing him to act out--such as uncharacteristically yelling at and scaring Ava, apparently (in a scene referred to, but not shown)--leaving him wondering how he/they can survive.

[Cue ominous music...]

He finally goes to see one of the specialist brain doctors who’ve been beating down his door (well, jamming up his voicemail inbox) since he had a tragic accident, causing him to spend time in a coma (aha! so that explains the amnesia and confusion!)… because what else would anyone in his shoes do?

[More ominous music, duh.]

This is where I can’t really tell you more, since the whole point is that you do not know what’s gonna happen. (But stuff does happen… oh, yes, it most definitely does!)

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For me, the low-budget Blumhouse movies are a mixed bag; of the ones I’ve seen, most have fallen sort of middle-of-the-road… harmless ways to pass the time, but not necessarily things I’d recommend as “worth your while”. Black Box, on the other hand, is.

First, the casting is terrific. Mamadou Athie is fantastic as the tortured Nolan, portraying tenderness, confusion, frustration, and rage equally well. Amanda Christine is perfection as Ava, a smart and wise-beyond-her-years little girl, with way too much life heaped upon her narrow shoulders. And—unsurprisingly—Phylicia Rashad is, in turns, radiant, magnetic, intense, and scary as the brain specialist, Dr. Brooks.

The directing (by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour) is likewise spot-on. He gets the most out of each of his actors, while skillfully ramping up the tension and general feeling of unease and uncertainty, in a pretty tight 100 minutes of runtime. 

There are some minor special effects which are just that: effective enough at furthering the story, because this movie works on mounting dread rather than being flashy. 

And finally, the resolution is satisfying, leaving you feeling fulfilled, and able to finally let out the breath you may or may not have realized you were holding. 

Black Box doesn't really do anything new, but what it does, it does with competence, making it an easy-to-recommend horror watch… whether you’re watching in October 2020, or any other month of a given year. 

~GlamKitty