Boxwalla is a really unique subscription box service that offers four different types of subscriptions: Food, Beauty, Books, and Film. Subscribers can subscribe to multiple boxes, or can hop around among the four boxes from shipment to shipment. Fun! I love movies! Boxwalla's website states:
'Art Cinema is Boring.' The Film Box challenges this notion by demystifying the work of the best filmmakers, by creating a context within which to view them.
Boxwalla kindly sent us this box for review purposes. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
This review is of the Boxwalla Film, $49.95 every other month, box.
The Subscription Box: Boxwalla Film
The Cost: $49.95 per shipment (every two months)
The Products: Two films from The Criterion Collection plus an insert are mailed to you. Additional material is emailed to you before and after you have watched the films.
Ships to: U.S. for free, Canada for $11.95, Internationally for $18.95
Check out all our Boxwalla reviews and the Artisan Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
Boxwalla's packaging is beautiful! The box is really high quality and very sturdy. It could easily be used for storage or gifts. This letter was included with information about the films that I was sent. Honestly, I never read it before I watch the movies because I hate any kind of spoiler! I always read it afterward, though, and it is always helpful.
December's theme was "Family Pictures." I received a post-film discussion, as promised, which I also read after watching the films. It, too, was very helpful.
Film #1: Life Is Sweet - Value $21.49 on Amazon
This was a fun movie! It is portrait of a working class family in England with two (barely) adult twin daughters, one of whom is androgynous and the other is a bulimic. The father has a dream of opening a food truck, and the mother just laughs all the time. The mom kind of reminded me of Linda from Bob's Burgers in the way she just takes everything as it comes, super easygoing. I wish I could be more like that! One of the first things that struck me is that I kept thinking, wow, I have seen the bulimic daughter somewhere before! Sure enough, she was played by Jane Horrocks, who later played Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous, one of my favorite shows of all times! She was amazing in this movie. A lot of funny or strange things happened throughout the movie, but I thought it was really cool that everything stopped being crazy and got serious just long enough to deal with the only really serious issue in the film, bulimia. This was a really good film.
Film #2: Yi Yi - Value $26.57 on Amazon
This movie was a little less fun, but absolutely no less engaging. This was another family portrait, although this one encompassed multiple generations and branches of a family in Taiwan. This was the first Taiwanese film that moved away from Kung Fu and melodrama to realism, and it really covers a lot of ground in showing life in 1990's Taiwan. A lot of drama is happening throughout the film; it's quite long and a number of game-changing events happen throughout the film. At the same time, I think the pace was pretty apt for a glimpse of modern life at that time.
This is a peek at the post-film discussion that was sent following the movies via email. This email usually comes about three weeks after the boxes have been received.
Both movies are part of The Criterion Collection, which is an organization that works to preserve and restore classic and modern films that are considered important. The films are published in editions that offer the highest technical quality as well as fantastic supplemental material.
One other thing I wanted to mention is that Boxwalla Film has finally started a discussion group on facebook! Subscribers can now meet up online to chat about the movies!
Verdict: This was another awesome box from Boxwalla Film, and I loved the family theme for the holidays! I am really getting a great classic film education with this subscription. I enjoyed both movies this month, too! In terms of value, the cost is a little high, but I feel like there is real value in the curation, pre- and post-film discussions, bonus features, and related materials. I think this is a great way to build up a killer classic film collection!
What do you think of Boxwalla Film box?
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