Before I get to the movie, I want to briefly talk about the short story that it was based on first. The short story titled Button, Button by Richard Matheson was a very short moral story that you can finish it in under 10 minutes. It is about a couple who received a locked box that contains a button and a note that tells them Mr. Steward will be visiting to explain. Indeed Mr. Steward showed up and give the wife an offer (husband was at work): push the button then someone she don’t know will die, but she will receive a payment of fifty thousand dollars. The wife discussed it with the husband, who immediately think it is immoral even if it is not a hoax. The wife was curious and also was thinking about how this payment can improve their life. When her husband went to work, she pushed the button. She received a call from the hospital telling her that her husband died. Then she remember the payment from her husband’s life insurance is exactly fifty thousand dollars. She asked Mr. Steward, “you said it’s gonna be someone I don’t know!” Mr. Steward replied, “You don’t know your husband very well.”

As you can see, the original story was a very simple story of moral. Richard Kelly expanded it into something that only he could make – a story in the lines of Donnie Darko and the Southland Tales – the time-space continuum is not linear and you will get very confused. But that is the appeal of Richard Kelly’s work, well, along with his signature water flowing in the air CG effect! Nevertheless, you can see it that Richard Kelly is maturing with his crafts. You can almost make sense of what is happening in this film. Not to mention the art direction and the settings are perfect to capture that sense of eerie and isolation. He completely nails it.

The original story did not provide the year nor the occupations of the characters. The movie filled it all in and they made a lot of sense. Like the decision to set the story in the 70s in Richmond, Virginia. Or that the couple is white collar struggling middle class family, one is an engineer for the government (NASA), one is a teacher. When you put everything and throw in the main plot of the story, you get an incredible eerie picture. With the back story of NASA, eventually the movie take the turn to involve the higher-being who is testing humanity. It brings up a lot of interesting questions, like did the Viking Mission prompted this investigation by the higher-being? what if there was never a Viking Mission, will the higher-being still come to earth to conduct his test? What if the family makes a different choice in the end, would that stop the loop?

I have a much easier time to understand Kelly’s work this time around – with the exception of the library scenes – which by the way is the most scary library I ever seen on film. You may not understand fully about Kelly’s work, but at least they are movies that force you to think. Not a lot of movie do that anymore.

Related posts:

1. Where the Wild Things Are
2. How To Train Your Dragon
3. The Last Airbender
4. Percy Jackson Lightning Thief movie
5. Terminator Salvation

Tagged: Movies · Richard Kelly · sci-fi