The best Kieran Charnock’s movies

"I chose to tell this story from the point of view of the Neighbour, not only because I find his perspective interesting when it comes to this issue, but also because the issue of domestic violence is so heavy and everyone has their own connotations towards it, which is why this film, for me, is not about domestic violence, but rather the influence of it. This allows me to explore a whole range of emotions and feelings, and be able to show them with greater depth by taking us away from the direct environment in which this abuse takes place, and put us somewhere close enough to still reach out to it.

Liam is nineteen, fresh out of high school, and enjoying a life of parties and pills. He lives with his grandmother. He keeps her at an arm’s length, and so, when she has a sudden stroke, he ignores her call, and doesn’t find out until he reads a text message sent from Wellington Hospital. He rushes to the hospital, in the middle of the night, drunk and hopped up on cheap stimulants. He is greeted by a closed door, and a nurse who tells him he has to wait to see his grandma. Thus, Liam spends a night and a morning in the hospital, contemplating his decisions, while befriending a young boy who is waiting for news of his mother. A social-realist drama, Boxes is a story about regret, relationships, and the widespread existence of small tragedies.

A mother tries to end her teenage son’s relationship with an older woman at the risk of losing him altogether.