This is not just a film about an American buried alive in a coffin somewhere in the Iraqi desert. This is not just a film about terrorists holding him for ransom. This is not just a film about an ever dwindling amount of time to escape disaster. No. This is also a film about modern day cell phone frustration and the endless game of phone tag, red tape, signal loss, battery drainage and holding queues. And it is one of the best films of 2010.
Press 1 if you would dread being buried alive with a cell phone and a lighter.
Press 2 if you can understand the genius of a film based on that premise.
Press 3 if you would like to fucking kill someone when you hear one of these menus.
Press 4 if you would like to read the rest of this review.
“Buried” works on the two levels supremely well. It is a superbly claustrophobic thriller. It is also a magnificent metaphor for phone-rage. It is brilliant filmmaking on the smallest scale imaginable. The camera never leaves the coffin. We never leave the coffin. We are trapped too. Our fate lies with the strange and distant voices on the other end of the phone. Quite frankly, it is pure genius how this film manages to fill its running length with such action, tension and astronomical drama.
It reminded me a little of the great Colin Farrell drama from a few years back… “Phone Booth”. The similarities are obvious. Director, Rodrigo Cortés, has crafted a terrific movie with one actor, one set and a miniscule budget by today’s Hollywood standards. Ryan Reynolds deserves a ton of praise for his work in such a limited space. “Buried” is a raw film that grabs you by the throat and squeezes the life out of you. It is an absolute masterpiece in the thriller genre.
