The Wooden Box
Film poster
SpanishLa caja
Directed byJuan Carlos Falcón
Screenplay byJuan Carlos Falcón
Produced byAndrés Santana
Starring
CinematographyGonzalo Berridi
Edited byJosé Salcedo
Music byJoan Valent
Production
companies
  • Aiete-Ariane films
  • Oberón Cinematográfica
  • Take 2000
Release dates
  • 27 October 2006 (2006-10-27) (Seminci)
  • 1 June 2007 (2007-06-01) (Spain)
Countries
  • Spain
  • Portugal
LanguageSpanish

The Wooden Box (Spanish: La caja)[1] is a 2006 Spanish-Portuguese black comedy film directed and written by Juan Carlos Falcón in his directorial feature debut which stars Ángela Molina, Elvira Mínguez, Antonia San Juan, Vladimir Cruz, and María Galiana.

Plot

Set in a Canarian village in 1965, the plot follows Eloísa, a widow who sets a makeshift wake for her deceased husband Don Lucio (with whom all the locals have scores to settle) in the residence of her friend Isabel.[2][3]

Cast

Production

The Wooden Box is inspired by Víctor Ramírez's novel Nos dejaron el muerto.[4] It is a Spanish-Portuguese co-production by Aiete-Ariane Films and Oberón Cinematográfica alongside Take 2000,[5] with support from Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Ayuntamiento de Pájara, Cabildo Insular de La Palma, Cabildo Insular de Fuerteventura, Patronato de Turismo de La Palma, and Canarias Cultura en Red.[2] It was shot in the islands of Fuerteventura and La Palma while filming for some indoor footage took place in Madrid.[4]

Release

The film was selected for screening out of competition at the 51st Valladolid International Film Festival on 27 October 2006.[2][6] It was theatrically released in Spain on 1 June 2007.[3]

Reception

Pere Vall of Fotogramas rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, highlighting its looks and the actresses as the best things about the film whilst citing the characters of Vladimir Cruz and Jordi Dauder as the worst things about it.[3]

Javier Ocaña of El País considered that despite a story with almost always promising situations, the black comedy film is flawed because of a mise-en-scène that "is continually stagnant", the editing, and dialogues which are not as fast as they should be, writing that "it is as if Robert Bresson had filmed a script by Luis García Berlanga".[7]

Accolades

Year Award CategoryNominee(s) ResultRef.
2007Montreal World Film FestivalGolden ZenithWon[1]
12th Toulouse Spanish Film FestivalGolden VioletWon[8]
200817th Actors and Actresses Union AwardsBest Film Actor in a Secondary RoleVladimir CruzNominated[9][10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Nic Balthazar's Ben X conquers Montreal". ScreenDaily. 4 September 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "La ópera prima de Juan Carlos Falcón, 'La Caja' se presenta hoy fuera de concurso". El Norte de Castilla. 27 October 2006.
  3. 1 2 3 Vall, Pere (29 May 2008). "La caja (2006)". Fotogramas.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Angela Molina protagoniza la comedia negra 'La caja', debut de Juan Carlos Falcón, una metáfora de la España de los 60". Europa Press. 31 May 2007.
  5. ↑ "La película del director canario Juan Carlos Falcón, 'La Caja' se exhibirá en el MOMA de Nueva York en un ciclo de cine". Europa Press. 20 October 2009.
  6. ↑ "Quince cintas de cinco continentes competirán en la Semana de Cine de Valladolid por la Espiga de Oro". El Mundo. 5 October 2006.
  7. ↑ Ocaña, Javier (1 June 2007). "Con el paso cambiado". El País.
  8. ↑ "Les Violettes d'Or" (PDF) (in French). 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  9. ↑ "'Las 13 rosas' y las series TVE, favoritas en los premios de la Unión de Actores". 20minutos.es (in Spanish). 18 January 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  10. ↑ "La saga Bardem triunfa en los premios de la Unión de Actores". El Mundo (in Spanish). 1 April 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
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