BOX OF MOONLIGHT
This fairy tale-like film has all the elements of a "feel good" movie with a quirky set of characters, (Al and "Kid," respectively played by John Turturro and Sam Rockwell), a happy ending, is funny and delightful from the opening scenes to its FIN. Turturro is perfect as the uptight contracting engineer, Al Fountain, a stickler for punctuality, a person so predictable he is something of a bore. His wife, Deb (Annie Corley), tells him she can set her watch by him. All that changes when an out-of-town job, on which Al and his crew had been working, is cancelled. It is then that Al notices one of the hairs in his head is grey. In a small panic about how his life has been so dull to date he is drawn to visit the site of his childhood. Al rents a car and heads to his old memories. On the way he sees a child pedalling a bike but going backwards. He sees a waitress pour coffee into a cup with less and less liquid in the cup. Very odd.
Enter Kid, standing next to his beat up and broken down old car, dressed in a Davy Crockett outfit including the fur hat with tail. Kid hails the approaching car and Al stops. . . . and the movie takes off in a state of whimsy. Kid says he lives "just a bit up the road" and could Al tow his car there? Al, always Mr. Nice Guy, agrees. After the old car is tied by rope to the new rental car, Kid tells Al that it would better if Kid drove as he knows the road better. Al reluctantly agrees. They drive off with Kid at the wheel of the new rental and Al in the old beat up car.
Kid's house is somewhat further away than the "just a bit up the road." It begins to grow dark when the cars finally arrive at the oddly decorated trailer and surroundings which are "home" to Kid. Thus begins Al's coming out of his box of predictability as Kid, time after time, surprises Al (and us). Kid is sooooh reasonable and always smiling so that Al seamlessly enters some of Kid's world, becoming a better man, a better father to his child and a more loving husband. His earlier phone calls home to his wife and his telephone conversations with his child are absolute gems.
An Oscar-deserving performance is given by Sam Rockwell as a free-spirited sprite. Fine performances are turned in by the two ladies to whom Sam introduces Al: Catherine Keener and Lisa Blount. Dermot Mulroney rounds out the excellent cast.
Written and Directed by Tom DiCillo.
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Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
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