Those into sci-fi dramas and mysteries, gather 'round, we have a good one here! "Black Box" is nor the first, nor the best 'Who am I?' piece, but it takes the concept, virtual reality, our reprogrammable subconscious, and makes an intriguing, engaging and very well acted mystery thriller. Barely a horror, I must agree to that.
After losing his wife and his memory in a car accident, a single father, Nolan (Mamoudou Athie) looks for all the possible options to restore his memories, and finds hope in the hands of Lillian (Phylicia Rashad) and her new, experimental virtual reality treatment.
It's really much more of a sci-fi drama than horror, where the only true element of horror is the entity that haunts Nolan in his dreams. I felt like the premise promises and builds up some visceral horror, but it never reached that peak, the third act is not the most climatic. Besides sci-fi themes, the story and flow is that of a melodrama, where there is warmth in the dynamic between father and daughter, or Mamoudou and Amanda Christine, care and worry between brothers, love and hurt between mother and son, husband and wife. Not going to talk about the twists, other than the fact that they come late, and can be figured out. Overall, "Black Box" feels fresher despite using many familiar tropes.
The all-black ensemble of actors provide terrific performances, my personal favorite being Phylicia Rashad, with Mamoudou Athie and Amanda Christie right beside. While the movie looks and sounds good, in my opinion it lacks additional visual panache, some aesthetical sauce and creativity, to compliment the fantastic concept at play. Instead, "Black Box" appears rather grey and almost drab.
Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, to whom "Black Box" is directional feature debut, is definitely a promising filmmaker, as he has gifted us a flawed, but content and serious story, including plenty of social commentary, some of it on the virtual reality too. My rating: 6/10
After losing his wife and his memory in a car accident, a single father, Nolan (Mamoudou Athie) looks for all the possible options to restore his memories, and finds hope in the hands of Lillian (Phylicia Rashad) and her new, experimental virtual reality treatment.
It's really much more of a sci-fi drama than horror, where the only true element of horror is the entity that haunts Nolan in his dreams. I felt like the premise promises and builds up some visceral horror, but it never reached that peak, the third act is not the most climatic. Besides sci-fi themes, the story and flow is that of a melodrama, where there is warmth in the dynamic between father and daughter, or Mamoudou and Amanda Christine, care and worry between brothers, love and hurt between mother and son, husband and wife. Not going to talk about the twists, other than the fact that they come late, and can be figured out. Overall, "Black Box" feels fresher despite using many familiar tropes.
The all-black ensemble of actors provide terrific performances, my personal favorite being Phylicia Rashad, with Mamoudou Athie and Amanda Christie right beside. While the movie looks and sounds good, in my opinion it lacks additional visual panache, some aesthetical sauce and creativity, to compliment the fantastic concept at play. Instead, "Black Box" appears rather grey and almost drab.
Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, to whom "Black Box" is directional feature debut, is definitely a promising filmmaker, as he has gifted us a flawed, but content and serious story, including plenty of social commentary, some of it on the virtual reality too. My rating: 6/10