Buried (film)

Geniac's Naked Mom
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Rodrigo Cortés
Written by	Chris Sparling
Produced by	Adrián Guerra Peter Safran Samuel Hadida
Starring	Ryan Reynolds
Cinematography	Eduard Grau
Edited by	Rodrigo Cortés
Music by	Víctor Reyes
Production companies	The Safran Company Versus Entertainment Dark Trick Films
Distributed by	Lionsgate (US) Warner Bros. (Spain)
Release dates	September 24, 2010 (2010-09-24) (United States) October 1, 2010 (2010-10-01) (Spain)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	Template:Film Spain
Language	English
Budget	Less than 2 million
Box office	$17,845,663

Buried is a 2010 Spanish thriller film directed by Rodrigo Cortés. It stars Ryan Reynolds.

The film revolves around Iraq-based American truck driver Paul Conroy (Reynolds), who, after being attacked, finds himself buried alive in a wooden coffin, with only a lighter, flask, flashlight, knife, glowsticks and a mobile phone to help him escape before the oxygen in the coffin runs out. Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the film has generated a mixed critical reception.

Plot - spoiler -

Set in 2006 in Iraq, Paul Conroy, a US truck driver, awakens buried alive, bound and gagged, with only a Zippo and a BlackBerry. Although he initially has no idea as to how he got there, he soon starts to piece together what has happened to him. Gradually, Paul remembers that he and several other convoys were ambushed by insurgents, then all the other truck drivers were killed shortly before he blacked out. After finding the cellphone, Paul attempts to get into contact with his wife and his employers (who gave him a safety number if anything like this should occur) but is able only to leave a message for both of them. Paul is able to get into contact with the FBI, but they cut off before he can explain the situation. However, he is able to determine from the questions the FBI official asked him that he has been kidnapped. The kidnapper contacts him and demands a ransom of $5m to be released alive, but this is then lowered to $1m.

Paul eventually gets into contact with his employers, who pass him onto a group set up in 2004 specifically made to find people who have been kidnapped. While the man who is trying to find Paul tells him that they are doing their best, Paul is not convinced and asks the man to name a person who they have saved before. He claims they saved a man known as Mark White three weeks ago. After a long time of trying to get help, the kidnapper forces him to make a ransom video, which he refuses to do. The kidnapper threatens to kill his kidnapped co-worker, and Paul reluctantly agrees to do the video. Shortly afterwards, there is a violent shaking in the coffin, and sand starts to leak into the coffin. He then receives a video from the kidnapper of the female employee he knew being shot dead, causing him to feel incredibly guilty and to vomit. The stress becomes too great and Paul momentarily considers slitting his own throat with the knife, but he stops after thinking about his family.

Later on, he receives a phone call from his employers, who inform him that he was fired from his job that morning due to fraternizing with the same female employee (though Paul says the relationship was strictly professional) and so if he dies, his family will not get any insurance money. The government group calls Paul and explains that some F-16 fighter planes just bombed the area the coffin is in even though they knew he was in the area (they were able to roughly pin down his location, but not exactly). The sand starts to leak in at a considerably faster rate and Paul begins to lose all hope and does a last will and testament in video form, giving his son all of his clothes and his wife all of his personal savings ($700). As time goes on (with nobody planning to pay the ransom), the kidnapper calls with demands for blood instead of money and tells Paul to cut his finger off and send a recording of it. If he doesn't do this, the kidnapper will harm his family (as he reveals the details of where they live). If Paul does make the video, his family will not be harmed, and he will tell the US government where Paul is. With this, Paul complies, cutting his finger off and sending the video.

Within a few minutes, the government official phones Paul saying they now know where he is, explaining that they were given the details of where to find a man who was buried alive by an insurgent. Paul receives a phone call from his wife and tells her he is going to be okay, and they express their love for each other. A few minutes later, he gets a call from the rescue group saying that they are close and have found his location. They arrive to the apparent burial site and are about to dig up the coffin. Through the phone, digging is heard, but Paul cannot hear it. The sand begins to fill the coffin to deadly levels, giving Paul seconds left. However, when the group digs up the coffin, it turns out the man lead them to Mark White, a man Brenner claimed had been rescued earlier in the film. The cell phone battery dies and the sand fills the coffin, killing Paul. Dan's last words to Paul were "I'm sorry Paul, I'm so sorry".

Cast

• Ryan Reynolds as Paul Steven Conroy
• Ivana Miño as Pamela Lutti
• Robert Paterson as Dan Brenner
• José Luis García Pérez as Jabir
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Alan Davenport
• Samantha Mathis as Linda Conroy
• Warner Loughlin as Donna Mitchell/Maryanne Conroy/Rebecca Browning
• Erik Palladino as Special Agent Harris

Production

The film was produced by Barcelona-based Versus Entertainment in association with The Safran Company and Dark Trick Films with the participation of Icon Film Distribution.

It was shot in a time period of over 17 days in Barcelona. One of director Rodrigo Cortés' inspirations for the film were the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Release

Buried premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2010. Lionsgate purchased the theatrical rights to the film and gave the film a limited theatrical release on September 24, 2010 and a wider release two weeks later on October 8, 2010. The film's first trailer premiered with A Nightmare on Elm Street. The second trailer premiered at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, and was attached with select prints of Dinner for Schmucks, Resident Evil: Afterlife, The Expendables and The Last Exorcism.

The movie had won the European Fantastic Film Festival of Strasbourg in September 2010.

The movie was presented at both the Deauville American Film Festival, in competition, and the Toronto International Film Festival, out of competition, in September 2010.

Reception

Buried has received generally positive reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 127 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10. With the following consensus: "Wringing a seemingly impossible amount of gripping drama out of its claustrophobic premise, Buried is a nerve-wracking showcase for Ryan Reynolds' talent." Film critic Roger Ebert, awarding the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, said that "Rodrigo Cortés, the Spanish filmmaker behind this is diabolical, Hitchcock-influenced narrative stunt, makes merry mischief with camera angles and lighting". IGN gave the movie a perfect 10/10.

External links

• Official website
• Buried at IMDb
• Buried at Rotten Tomatoes
• Buried at Metacritic
• Buried at Box Office Mojo