Box

I read Matt Shaw's book years ago and read it again when he announced he was making it into a film. While the idea of the man being stuck in a box is the same, the reasons as to why he was in the box are different from film to box which caught me by a pleasant surprise as it meant I hadn't seen the ending coming. Nice to see Matt do more acting in this one although he has made it clear on his pages that it won't be something we see much of. Nice camera work and his direction is certainly getting stronger with each film he does. Looking forward to the next one which I also backed.

About ten minutes in, I thought this was a duffer. I hated the voice outside of the box and the protagonist (who also wrote and directed it) wasn't really my cup of tea. I saw it through however but didn't enjoy it, but then I didn't mind the end bit. Naaaah... It was taking my out of the moment and stopping me engaging, until.... it didn't. I suddenly found myself an hour in completely in the zone. I'm not claiming it's incredibly well done, because in a lot of ways it isn't. But it pulled me along for the ride and I never got bored, which is impressive for a single person / location film. Naaaaah...

Would be interesting to see what Purgatory Pictures could do with a bigger budget. With little money they keep bringing original content to their films which are a breath of fresh air to bigger budgeted mainstream films which feel like they are just copies of each other. The film isn't perfect (some scenes are acted better than others, some of the effects are clearly low budget and the editing could have been tighter in places) but for what they're trying to do, I think they are on the right tracks. I was entertained throughout and that's saying something given most "mainstream" films are a chore to get through.

I am not much of a reviewer but I can saw I loved this! Raw and emotional this film was awesome. Just watch it and you will see what I am talking about!!!

So Matt Shaw, stuck in a box for around 70 odd minutes... Doesn't sound the most promising, yet it all fits together extremely well.

The camerawork was claustrophobic and the editing was on point, never really giving any opportunity to let you get over the previous scene.

Shaw shows some good acting throughout, especially the more, gag enducing scenes. And holds up the movie alone very well.

There are some scenes I would love to comment on, but I do not want to spoil anything. This one is best to go into blind... And empty stomached.

Considering the small set and cast this works extremely well, and feels much bigger in terms of production value, than it probably is.

Very entertaining, can't wait for future work off Shaw and his team.