There’s something so simple and elemental about the central fear in Buried that it’s hard to imagine anyone who doesn’t get at least a little freaked out by the premise. Sure being buried alive has been used in movies before (most notably in the masterful 1988 thriller The Vanishing and twice by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill Vol. 2 and his episode of CSI),
but no one has ever made it the entire concept for a film. Director Rodrigo Cortes traps audiences in a coffin with his protagonist for 90 minutes with no set up or even cutaways to the outside world. It’s an impressive piece of high-concept filmmaking and it says a great deal for Cortes’ emerging skill as a director that not a second of screen time feels
wasted.

Van Wylder himself Ryan Reynolds stars as Paul Conroy, an independent truck driver
working in Iraq who was ambushed and woke up trapped in a coffin somewhere in the
desert. The film opens when he gains consciousness and realizes the severity of his
situation. Fumbling around in the coffin he soon finds that his captors left him with a few
light sources (a flair, a flashlight, a zippo lighter, etc.) and a cell phone. He frantically
begins trying to determine who he should call to get him out the coffin and the irritating
treatment he gets over the phone from unconvinced friends, family, and eventually
government officials is almost as frightening as his physical turmoil. Of course, his
captors left everything in his coffin for a reason and soon he’s making hostage videos and
getting caught up in some international shenanigans.

Considering the movie was pitched and sold around the one-man-in-coffin concept, the
filmmakes manage to cover a surprising amount of ground. While in the opening scenes
the Iraq setting feels like an irritating attempt to politicize a genre movie, it actually
pays off quite well in ways that would be unfair to reveal. Likewise, the cell phone
conceit seems a little ridiculous early on, but once it becomes clear Conroy is stuck in
a surprisingly shallow grave the technical aspect becomes believable and the way he’s
treated by those who should be helping him adds another layer of horror. Considering the
limitations of the conceit, the film works remarkably well and is an incredible technical
achievement. Rodrigo Cortes and cinematographer Eduard Grau (A Single Man) create
a film that manages to be constantly alive and visually expressive for the entire running
time despite the confined drama. Each light source trapped in the box gives them a
different color to light the actor with and the way they manage to vary their visual
storytelling techniques without repetition is impressive.

Then of course there is Ryan Reynolds an actor known mainly for his gentle comedy
performances asked to take on an almost impossible role. He’s in every frame of the
movie, crammed inside one of the specially produced caskets that must have been
physically painful to endure (one coffin was specially constructed so that the camera
could move 360 degrees with Reynolds inside and no visible gaps in the walls). It
has to be said that he does an impressive job and the movie simply would not work
without him. While it would have been nice if the role were played by an actor who
actually looks like he might drive trucks for a living, at least Reynolds’ presence doesn’t

take you out of the movie. It’s impressive work that will inevitably get him some
nominations for little gold statues and open doors for more dramatic acting opportunities.

Buried is far from perfect. There are a couple of late inning reveals that feel silly and at
least one tear-filled call to a nursing home that should have been cut. But overall what
the filmmakers have accomplished with limited resources is amazing. Director Rodrigo
Cortes instantly becomes a filmmaker to watch with this sophomore effort. Anyone who
can get this must tension out of one actor in a box has talent to spare. Reynolds proves
that he actually has some acting chops beyond fratboy antics that should lengthen the
shelf life of his career considerably. Unless you’re severely claustrophobic, this is a film
that demands to be seen on the big screen. It’s hard to imagine it having the same impact
on DVD when the movie can be paused at any time. You really need to be trapped in the
dark with Buried to appreciate all the horrifying surprises that it has to offer.