Box of Moonlight (1996)

Directed by Tom DiCillo · Comedy, Drama

Starring John Turturro, Sam Rockwell, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Lisa Blount, Annie Corley, Alexander Goodwin, Mike Stanley, Rica Martens, Ray Aranha, Robert Wightman, James Richardson, Stephen Dupree, Eugene Wolf, Reathel Bean, Betty Wills Stephens, Linda Libby, Gary Lowery, Bodi Soham, Horace E. Smith, Stuart Greer, John E. Davis, Kristin Hoke, William Ansor, Charles Warrington, Glenn Ruth, E. Parker Webb

IHBM7 IMDb7.1 RT59% Trakt69% TMDb6.8Good

Al Fountain, a middle-aged electrical engineer, is on the verge of a mid-life crisis, when he decides to take his time coming home from a business trip, rents a car, and heads out looking for a lake he remembers from his childhood. But his wandering takes him into the life of Kid, a free-spirited young man who helps Al escape from the routine of everyday life and find freedom to enjoy himself.

My review · Reviewed 09/20/2024

For the first third of this movie, I thought to myself "so this is what it is like to see fantastic actors in an indie movie with a middling script". But then, something unexpected happened: I really started to get into it. And don't get me wrong, this is a rather slight movie. For a while it was more of a "hang" (and you can take that to mean a few things), and then it morphed into a sweet buddy comedy/drama. I also wanted to hang out at the half-house and jump into the water and free myself from the shackles of life. If you like good acting, indie movies and character studies, you could certainly do worse.