At today's midday screening of Buried, a couple were buying Bloody Marys to take in with them. Rather than thinking it a little early for alcohol I actually contemplated swapping my green tea order for the same thing. I certainly needed a stiff drink when I came out of the cinema.
Buried is one of those films that I debated seeing because I wasn't sure whether the discomfort of watching it would outweigh the enjoyment. Just reading about the premise of a man waking up to find that he's been buried alive in a coffin made my hands sweat a little.
It is certainly a film that makes you squirm in your seat but I'm really glad I confronted my fear. Well as much as you can confront a fear of very confined spaces while sat in an airy cinema.
The entire film is set in the coffin. It's a brave move that could fall flat as the challenge of keeping the action flowing is substantially increased when the central character can't go anywhere and has limited props with which to interact.
As the story unfolds we discover that Paul Conroy, the man in the coffin played superbly by Ryan Reynolds* is a civilian working in Iraq as a truck driver and his convoy was ambushed. He has been buried with a cigarette lighter, torch and a mobile phone. Incidentally I think the fact that the mobile has a signal underground albeit probably only a few feet down is a little bit of a stretch of the imagination when I can barely get a signal in the kitchen of my nearly central London flat.
Buried is a race against time to rescue Paul before his oxygen runs out without being able to see any of the race. But that is what makes it so engaging as the story is told entirely from the victims perspective. It heightens the fear and frustration because you only see and hear what Paul sees and hears. Like the character you never know how near or far his rescuers are.
Overall it is an accutely atmospheric film, bold in its plot and execution right up to the final killer punch. It has certainly left its mark. Now where's the vodka?
* Did chuckle to see an assistant and a driver to Mr Reynolds listed in the credits (I know, I know, he's not really buried alive in a coffin)
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