{{Short description|2019 film by Andrew Kötting}} {{Infobox film | name = | image = | alt = | caption = | director = Andrew Kötting | writer = Andrew Kötting | producer = Andrew Kötting | starring = | music = | cinematography = Nick Gordon Smith | editing = Andrew Kötting | studio = | distributor = | released = {{Film date|2019|||FIDMarseille|ref1=<ref name="britishcouncil">{{Cite web |title=British Council Film: The Whalebone Box |url=http://film-directory.britishcouncil.org/the-whalebone-box |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=britishcouncil.org}}</ref>}} | runtime = 89 mins | country = | language = | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Whalebone Box''''' is a 2019 documentary film directed by Andrew Kötting.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Potton |first=Ed |date=2020-04-02 |title=The Whalebone Box review — off-kilter documentary centres on a pilgrimage |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-whalebone-box-review-off-kilter-documentary-centres-on-a-pilgrimage-tvhrdbb0f |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=The Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-03 |title=BBC Radio 5 Live - Kermode and Mayo's Film Review, John Turturro, Four Kids and It and The Whalebone Box, The Whalebone Box reviewed by Mark Kermode |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p088l721 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Magical mystery tour mystifies |url=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/magical-mystery-tour-mystifies |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Morning Star |date=April 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-03 |title=The Whalebone Box review: Andrew Kötting journeys into his daughter's dreams |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/whalebone-box-review-andrew-kotting-journeys-into-his-daughters-dreams |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref>
==Synopsis== According to Owen Richards at ''The Arts Desk'', "Essentially, the plot follows Kötting, writer Iain Sinclair, and photographer Anonymous Bosch as they travel from London to Tarbert, off the west of Scotland, in possession of a box. It was crafted from the bones of a beached whale, and gifted to Sinclair by its sculptor Steve Dilworth. Their intention is to return it to the sands from which it came."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-01 |title=The Whalebone Box review - documentary through unreliable surrealism |url=https://theartsdesk.com/film/whalebone-box-review-documentary-through-unreliable-surrealism |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=The Arts Desk |language=en}}</ref>
According to Mark Kermode in ''The Guardian'', "part of The Whalebone Box is a typically fragmented account of that journey, venturing in a chronological fashion from the psychic aerial of Sway Tower in the New Forest to the standing stones of Lewis (via diversions through the Pyrenees), all recorded in a variety of DIY formats, both physical and digital, and interspersed with archive footage, still photography and animation. The other part is a journey into the dreams of Eden Kötting, the remarkable artist who has long been the muse and inspiration of her father, Andrew."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kermode |first=Mark |date=2020-04-05 |title=The Whalebone Box review – so strange it must be true |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/05/the-whalebone-box-review-andrew-kotting-iain-sinclair |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Cast== <ref>{{Cite news |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |date=2020-04-01 |title=The Whalebone Box review – baffling, beguiling trek to a distant shore |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/01/the-whalebone-box-review-andrew-kotting-iain-sinclair |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> *MacGillivray (Kirsten Norrie) *Philip Hoare *Eden Kotting *Iain Sinclair
==Release== ''The Whalebone Box'' had its world premiere at FIDMarseille in Marseille, France in 2019.<ref name="britishcouncil"/>
==Reception== {{As of|2025|03|07}}, the film had a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Whalebone Box {{!}} Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_whalebone_box |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|https://www.andrewkotting.com/ak%20web/THEWHALEBONEBOX.html}} *{{IMDb title|tt11804772}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whalebone Box, The}} Category:2019 independent films Category:Films set in the United Kingdom Category:2019 biographical films Category:2019 documentary films