''Box of Moonlight'' is a 1996 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, illness, betrayal, grief, etc. ...

written and directed by

Tom DiCillo Thomas A. DiCillo (born August 14, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, and musician. Early life DiCillo was born in Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina. His father was Italian and his mother was from New England. He stu ...

, and starring

John Turturro John Michael Turturro ( ; born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his varied roles in independent films, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers and Spike Lee. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award a ...

Sam Rockwell Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for playing troubled police officer Jason Dixon in ''Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'' (2017). He was nominated i ...

Lisa Blount Lisa Suzanne Blount (July 1, 1957 – October 25, 2010) was an American actress and film producer. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year for her performance in ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' (1982), and later ...

and

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Academ ...

Plot summary

Al Fountain is a methodical and somewhat neurotic engineer. On the way home from work after leaving his construction site, he takes a side trip for

nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek language, Greek, consisting of (''nóstos''), a Homeric word me ...

's sake in the

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

area. There he meets Buck "The Kid", an eccentric character who gives him a new perspective on his life. The two men bond with two women with similar personalities. The pair swap stories and ideas. The kid lives outside with many items and furniture in the woods. They rob a man's tomatoes from his garden and vandalize the factory that Al works at. The two part ways with Al having a different and more free outlook.

Cast

Production

Production was done mostly in autumn of 1995 in and around Knoxville, Tennessee on a thirty-five day shooting schedule and a budget of 3.5 million dollars. The

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

that Turturro's character stays at during his trip is a now closed but still there is a motel in

Maryville, Tennessee Maryville is a city in and the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee. Its population was 31,907 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The Great Indian Warpath (which was used to build the route U.S. Route 411, US-411) was long ...

, that is named the 411 Motel, on Hwy 411 in Maryville, TN(). The strip club used was "Bambi's" on the Alcoa Highway which is now called Ball Gentlemen's Club in Knoxville, TN(). Many of the scenes were shot in South Knoxville near Seymour, Strawberry Plains, Greenback, and Norris Lake and have been drastically changed since shooting due to mining, suburban development, and culture. The wrestling scenes that Al and The Kid watch were filmed during an actual

Smoky Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, wit ...

event with Buddy Landell as the

good guy "Good Guy" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his tenth studio album ''Kamikaze'', released on August 31, 2018, via Shady Records. Recording sessions took place at Effigy Studios in Detroit. Produced by Illadaproducer with additional produ ...

and Headbanger Thrasher as "Saddam Insane" in 1995. Most of the in-town driving scenes were filmed in East and North Knoxville, Maryville, and Alcoa. Many of the routes are not consistent.

Influence and reputation

''Box of Moonlight'' has a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

following among

and

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

fans.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote in July 1997 that "the 1970s-style premise of ''Box of Moonlight'' is so dated and fanciful that this quixotic film winds up seeming amazingly fresh." On a July 26, 1997 episode of ''

Siskel & Ebert Gene Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) and Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013), collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were an American film critic duo known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siske ...

'', it received two thumbs up from

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

and

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

DVD release

The 1998 Lions Gate release includes a "secret" commentary by Tom DiCillo that is not listed on the packaging.

References

External links

* * *
Tom DiCillo Insightful Page
1996 films 1996 comedy-drama films 1996 independent films American comedy-drama films American independent films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Tom DiCillo Films shot in Tennessee Largo Entertainment films 1990s American films English-language comedy-drama films English-language independent films {{1990s-US-comedy-drama-film-stub