Australian Penthouse

BURIED

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Stars: Ryan Reynolds
ICON

You may notice from the sole name of the actor listed that Buried is a one-man show. Not a simple task to pull off, and one most often reserved for the stage, however, Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés combines clever camera work with Hitchcock sensibilities to create a gripping exploration of what terrorism is as experienced by one man.

Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is an American civilian contractor working in Iraq, his job is to deliver office supplies. At least that was what he was doing this morning. When he wakes up in absolute darkness, sealed inside a wood coffin somewhere under the desert, he comes to understand that he is the sole survivor of a roadside I.E.D. ambush. Buried with a mobile phone, lighter, torch and chem-lights, Conroy has 90 minutes to try to secure five million dollars from the US embassy in exchange for his freedom.

Cinematographer Eduard Grau impresses with his ingenious use of torch, Zippo and chem-lights as the film’s only light sources, and Cortés does the unthinkable by creating a one-man-show fuelled by fear, anger, depression and desperation into a nail-biting apogee that would do Alfred Hitchcock proud.

Scriptwriter Chris Sparling delivers great work in building and venting tension like an editorial bellows in a way that releases half the anxiety it injects, allowing the audience release but not relief, and Ryan Reynolds proves that he’s more than an actor with great comic timing by convincingly and impressively playing the part of a man facing almost-certain death.

Buried is cinema stripped back to its essentials: a strong and interesting story paired with believable acting. What a ride.

Buried opens in cinemas nationally on October 7.