Screened In Sundays: Buried

1 underseen gem every Sunday.

Remember that amazing scene in Kill Bill Volume 2 when Uma Thurman gets buried alive? The scene is incredibly tense, claustrophobic, and terrifying. Well, imagine that for 80 minutes.

Yes, this Ryan Reynolds vehicle takes place entirely in a coffin. No outside shots AT ALL. In fact, besides a few voices on a cell phone, Reynolds is the only person to appear (physically or vocally) on screen throughout the film.

Reynolds plays a U.S. truck driver who is working in Iraq. After he is attacked, he awakes to find himself buried alive underground in a coffin. Equipped with only a lighter and a cell phone (that somehow manages to get a signal), he must find out what’s going on before his oxygen runs out.

I love ambitious films like Buried. The plot itself is a risk, and there are so many camera shots that make you double take and wonder how it was pulled off. I usually find Reynolds extremely grating in movies, but he’s actually easy to root for here. And I’ll be a man enough to admit that I shed a tear or two at the climax of the story.