Buried Review

 There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: Paul wakes up to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With a lighter and a cell phone, it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.


THE GOOD: Cinematography and direction. You would think that it would be really hard to find lots of camera angles in Buried. After all, the entire 95-minute film takes place in an 8-foot coffin. Spanish cinematographer Eduard Grau and director/producer/editor Rodrigo Cortés take this setting and add depth, movement, and intensity to the whole film. Not only that, but the use of light sources (a lighter, cell phone, and glow sticks) is super effective. There are literally moments where I felt like I was trapped in the box. Now, I'm not a claustrophobic person, but that shows you how engaging the film can be at times. There's also a really great shot in the film where the camera pulls up and away from the coffin adding a sense of loneliness, hopelessness, and... well, depth. Lots of quick close-up shots of Paul's face or skin. In my eyes, this film has the best camera work I've seen all year so far. Grau is still young in his career field and can only continue to improve in the industry. Prior to Buried, he was the DOP for A Single Man. As for Cortés, I don't think there's any arguing that he'll be successful in the future. Many elements of Alfred Hitchcock in this movie.

Concept. I really like the idea of Buried. In my opinion, this movie is a combination of Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth and the buried alive scenes in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 2. Chris Sparling's screenplay for Buried ended up on last year's The Black List, which lists the top unproduced scripts of the year, and also contained Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network. I'm glad movies were made for both scripts, but I have to say that I like Buried a little more. Maybe it's because of the huge accomplishments made in the minimalistic production, which really amazes me when it comes to film. I know most people are probably going to disagree with me, and that's fine. I'm a sucker for indie films. The Social Network is also a big achievement.

Ryan Reynolds. I can't say that I've always been impressed with Ryan Reynolds, but I can say that this is his best performance yet. He plays Paul Conroy who is the man trapped in the box. It is entirely convincing. He acts like a man in desperation. Like how anyone would react to that situation in real life. He goes through a huge range of emotions and he does well at it.

The ending. I hate the ending, but I don't hate it in terms of it not being a good one. It's actually a really good ending, but because of what happens, I was frustrated by it. Does this make sense?

THE BAD: Plot holes. I'm nitpicking here because I really can look past all of the plot holes involved in the film. As I mentioned earlier, there is a cell phone in the movie. Don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything by mentioning that. In a way, the phone is the only other character in the movie despite Paul talking to over a dozen people on it. The phone becomes the friend, the enemy, and the source of hope. It is the most important item in the coffin. It is also the most ridiculous item to work in the coffin because he can actually use it. How is it that he can get a signal a few feet underground in a box where he is buried and I can't even get one when I drive down Peasley Canyon Road? It's a big plot hole that is accompanied by a bunch of little small ones, but I can look past it because it works on practically every other level.


THE END: Buried seems like such a simple film, yet it was able to achieve so much on a simple story, one location, and one main actor. If you've noticed, I kept a lot of details about the film out of my review. All I knew going into the theatre is what you can read in the plot above, and that it won at the European Fantastic Film Festival in Strasbourg last month. I did not know how Paul got in the coffin. I did not know who put him there. I did not know where he was buried. And I certainly didn't know why he was buried. Not knowing these things, I think, really added to the suspense of the film. Buried is one of my favorite films of the year and I recommend seeing it in a nice dark theatre to add to the claustrophobia effect. See it soon!


DISCUSS: What did you think of Buried? What did you think of Ryan Reynolds' performance? What do you think was his best movie prior to Buried? What did you dislike about the movie? Did you like the ending?