Movie of the Day – Buried

 We all have things that we fear in life.  Some people can’t do any public speaking.  Some people can’t take being outside in the world.  Most people fear death and the uncertainty that awaits them.  Me personally, i hate clowns and the Dutch (not Dutch women though, some fine looking women).  Anyways, movies that can play upon the fears that we have are far more effective at generating emotional responses.  Arachnophobia was freaky as shit, but that is because I hate spiders and having to watch a movie about killer spiders is the worst way to spend watching a movie.  Ultimately, the greatest fear is that of the unknown.  Never knowing what will come around the corner, what happens when we drift off to sleep or what tomorrow will bring.

Buried is a movie that plays on our fears.  The feeling of being helpless, not knowing what is going on and feeling that there is no way out is a feeling that people experience whether daily or in the back of their mind.  Buried though takes this feeling and collapses the idea into one scene.  One claustrophobic, endless scene of fear induced panic and despair.

Buried stars Ryan Reynolds as Paul Conroy, who is a truck driver based in Iraq that awakens to find himself in a box, buried beneath the sand.  He doesn’t know why he is in this box nor does he know who placed him there.  Paul discovers that he only has a couple of items on him, particularly a lighter, glow stick, pen, and telephone.  He is contacted on the phone and given a set of instructions to follow.  He is being held for ransom for roughly $5 Million and has only hours before the air in his coffin is depleted.  What follows is a frantic struggle for Paul to contact the outside world and orchestrate his release, all from the confines of a coffin buried deep in the sand.

I first caught the trailer for the movie during a showing of The Expendables.  Watching the minimal teaser trailer, I instantly felt a Hitchcock like vibe from the movie.  I can tell that the movie will build up to this big payoff, but more so it is the action and slow, methodical pace at which the movie will reach it’s climax.  Above all else, the premise of filming a movie, all from the perspective of one actor in a box with nothing else to propel the movie is intriguing.  You got to sit there and wonder just how the hell are they going to move along a story of a guy trapped in a box.  One you have scene and you have to find creative ways to make tension and scope essential.

I loved the hell out of this movie, if not for the ballsy directing, but thechance the director took on an audience to devote their time to a movie no traditional sense of film movement.  You couple this with the acting that Reynolds must give to form this emotional bridge between the audience and the movie, now you have a risky venture.  Buried paid out in spades as this was hands down one of the most tense ans suspenseful movies that came out in 2010.  I felt the fear in Reynolds’ voice as he struggled to hang on for hope and find a way to save himself.

Buried did use some, we will say lame, action beats for tension, namely with the snake in the coffin.  I felt that it was more tacked on and didn’t need to be there, but given when it takes place in the movie, there had to be something there to catch the audiences attention.  Aside from the few nitpicks, Buried was carried by Reynolds and his tense acting.  The fear in his voice, the panic of being trapped in a box, and the emotional weight that carried with each human contact through the phone as just amazing.

I am not going to spoil the ending, but it was one hell of  a guy punch.  Find a way to watch this movie, but only if you aren’t claustrophobic.  Otherwise this will freak you the fuck out.