Buried

I hate it when fantastic movies such as this get completely overlooked when it comes time for awards to be handed out. Buried is a triumph in minimalist filmmaking and is a heart wrenchingly intense movie experience. It is gripping, moving, frustrating, and terrifying. Oh yeah, and it all takes place inside a box. Paul Conroy, who is played by Ryan Reynolds and is the only character in the movie we actually see, wakes up in a coffin buried under the ground with no idea how he got there or who put him there. He shortly finds out that he is being held by ransom by a group of terrorists in Iraq. With only a pen, a flask, a cell phone, and only 90 minutes of oxygen, Paul has to act fast. The movie limits itself to an astounding extent, but makes the most out of what it has, creating an incredibly thrilling experience.

How much can you really expect from a movie that takes place in a human sized box with only one person? Buried delivers a lot more than you would expect from this scenario. It has all the right elements to make it as enthralling as any action film we see today. To start off, Rodrigo Cortes does a great job directing his limited space. He miraculously pulls off a lot of great shots and brilliant claustrophobic nuances. He directs with enough skill to keep the movie interesting in its entirety. The movie never felt lagged or drawn out and every moment where it would have slowed down it would throw a great twist or shocking moment that drew you right back in.

Furthermore, the director does a lot of great artistic work with what little he to work with. We have to take into consideration the fact that when you are buried underground in a coffin, there is obviously zero light. Thankfully Paul has various light sources with him in the coffin. And so to keep from breaking the realism of the film, these light sources are the only light in the film, making sure all light is authentic. Paul's light sources include a lighter, a flashlight, a cell phone, and a green glow stick. Each of these light sources gives off a different color, and these colors which obviously encompass everything when they are present add to and reflect the mood of the film. When things are calmer (relatively of course) we are treated to the soft blue light of the cell phone. As things grow more suspenseful and harrowing we are treated to scenes lit by the green glow stick. And when things grow more sinister the red lens of the flashlight is used. I found these minute details fascinating and they artistically added a lot to a film which had little room to work with.

While Cortes' directing gives the film plenty of life, Ryan Reynold's stalwart performance really drives the emotion of the film. He delivers a top notch performance, and he as to seeing as he is the only character in the film other than the various people he talks to on the phone which we never actually see. It can't be easy to carry a film all by yourself, but this year we were treated to two performances that did a superb job at it, the other of course being James Franco in 127 Hours.

Buried is a film that Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud of. It is a groundbreaking thriller that does so much with so little. It is such a harrowing movie experience that you cannot forget. All 90 minutes of this film are fascinating and gripping, especially the last fifteen. The final moments of the film are some of the most captivating and enthralling moments I've ever experienced through film. During the finale of the film you will want nothing more than to know the fate of Paul Conroy, and when you finally do learn his fate at the close of the film your jaw will drop and you will be utterly blown away by such a captivating on screen experience.

Buried is easily one of the interesting movie experiments I have seen in recent times. Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes takes minimalist cinema-making to new heights by telling a story with just only one character trapped in one location in what is almost dogma 95esque settings, and far more importantly he manages to do so by keeping it interesting throughout the 90 minutes.

Buried opens with a man trapped in what appears to be a wooden box buried underground. As the movie progresses we find out he is Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) an American truck driver employed by an American firm - Creston Roland and Thomas (CRT) in Iraq. His last memory is that of his convoy being ambushed by people (as Conroy puts it- terrorists, insurgents who the f**k cares?). As he tries to piece it all together he finds out that he has lost his special contact number ( that apparently every American in Iraq has been given in case of an emergency) but discovers a mobile phone ( in Arabic settings) and a Zippo lighter alongside a pencil, a pocket knife, and supply of anti-anxiety pills ( we later learn that Conroy suffers from anxiety)

The rest of the movie is about his frenetic attempts to establish contact with outside world - his family, friends, employers, the state department to seek assistance to 'get him out'. But things start to get complicated when he is contacted on the phone by his abductor who requests him to arrange ransom from the American Embassy. Running out of both phone battery and air to breathe, Conroy soon finds out that the threats are not hollow; he is forced to make a video of himself which finds its way to the you tube. As things deliberate, Conroy starts to realise he is just a small, helpless insect caught in a web spun by devious and meaner players…

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I missed Cortes' interview on BBC Radio 4 yesterday so I'm not really sure the actual intention behind the movie but there are enough, unmissable, Geo-political subtexts in the script - "I never thought I will find myself here". "I don't think any of us thought we would find ourselves here". I read the movie as Conroy being symbolic of America trapped in a situation which he couldn't get out of despite all the technology and the capitalism abound - multinationals ( admit it, doesn't Creston Roland and Thomas sound impressive? especially, if you say it where the outside temperature is 50 degree centigrade?), answering machines ( that great trickster of a machine that promises to callback but doesn't), robot call operators ( Sir, I can connect you to the FBI field office in Boston, New York, Chicago…), the protocols (Crisis Steering Committee, Hostage Negotiation Team ) etc, all of which somewhat seem hopelessly trivial in the face of more existential needs.

Buried is a intelligent 21st century cinematic marriage of Kafka and Beckett. Philosophically, it is a wonderful screen portrayal of a nervous breakdown in the wake of continuing threat. I found how Cortes had guided Conroy's character through a sequence of emotions - anger, pain, fear, disdain, dread, calm and finally acceptance very beautiful, though in a sense beautiful is not the correct word here. The camera work, especially the use of different angles to emphasise different emotions within the limited setting of the movie is commendable. Last but not the least, I always remembered Ryan Reynolds as that lanky guy wearing a maroon sweatshirt in Two guys , a girl and a pizza place. It is fair to say not anymore. To be frank, he is a bit of surprise here; he lives up to the demands of the role - a lesser effort would have easily made the Buried a 90 minute closeup photo-shoot in dark light settings. Ryan should be proud of his efforts in the Buried.

In light of how the idea of cinema is recast lately, movies such as Buried ought to be encouraged, because, amongst million other reasons it defines what cinema is more than how a 3D movie would. I would prefer watching Buried again than writing a review of James Cameron's next big computer generated manipulation that is assured to collectively sweep the humanity into his bank account.

Here is the proof that an intelligent movie can also be done with a low budget. The Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes mixed every element with a good balance into an interesting, never boring tense thriller. The end was very surprising and unexpected. I don't want to give more details here. Just watch it. I bought the DVD very cheap. Ryan Reynolds delivered a very respectable performance. The running time with 91 minutes was perfect. Buried is not based on true events but it is not far away from the reality.

My expectations have been met. Even my wife had her doubts before but then she looked it with high attention.

At the end we gave both a solid rating of 7/10.

What would you do if you were trapped in a box? A coffin to be more precise. In Iraq. With a mobile phone. Make a few calls. Great premise. Man's inhumanity to man is vividly on display here. Uncomfortable to watch. Uncomfortable to be in the box. Uncomfortable ending. Original and intense.

Buried is a film that keeps things deadly simple, one character, one location and a one line but horribly inspired plot, those looking for flashy visuals or big action should turn far, far away from this one. It's worth noting though that the film is well directed and photographed, director Rodrigo Cortes has a nimble eye for visuals and angles to keep things visually interesting, while cinematographer Eduard Grau gets the best out of the mere two light sources to make the experience a frighteningly vivid one. The plot sees Ryan Reynolds waking up in a coffin, with nothing more than a cell-phone and his lighter to help him out, things develop through his series of fraught, occasionally bleakly amusing and increasingly desperate communications with the outside world. Its rather interesting to see a film so based around interactions on a mobile phone, devices so often objects of fear, suspicion, or in the case of some horror films and of course the cinematic experience for the viewer, irritations. Here every ring is crucial, the battery bar is nail-biting, even the light of the screen is important. For me, just as interesting was the choice of lead. I've never had time for Ryan Reynolds, a face from some of the worst in lowbrow comedy and someone I never expected to appreciate breaking through into not just serious film but something as bold in its structure as this. A lot of people are likely to dislike the film on a fundamental level, but Reynolds gives the performance of his life here, running through a rainbow of emotions, angry, sarcastic and terrified are but a few. Compelling and sympathetic, likely physically arduous too (though I'd don't know how the film was made it must have been tough, barring serious trickery) he holds the film wonderfully. The script is of course of utmost importance too, and writer Chris Sparling does mostly terrific work. An ordinary man reacting as best he can to a nightmare, drawing on the sort of resourcefulness he probably hoped he'd never need, occasionally breaking down but keeping ploughing on, shades of dark humour in the protagonist's travails on the phone, its endlessly interesting and as time goes on, nail-bitingly suspenseful. I had minor issues with realism in the film, and there was at least one interesting little aside that could have been developed a bit more, but overall this is a great achievement. It surely won't appeal to everyone and my rating might seem generous, but for doing this well on such a risky concept, and putting together a suspenser that remains thought provoking after, a 9/10 from me.