Toronto Film Fest: 'The Burning Plain' fizzles out

Fresh off its premiere in Venice (see photo above), where it played to a decidedly mixed response, "The Burning Plain" arrived here in Toronto on Friday night to a decidedly mixed response.

The directing debut of writer Guillermo Arriaga, is preceded by his oft-lauded scripts for the Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarittu films "Amores Perros," "21 Grams" and "Babel." All those films, as well as Arriaga's script for "The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada," famously featured complex interlocking narratives, which overlap (or don't), splaying characters, geographies and languages across the screen in a sometimes astonishing mix of literary ambition. "The Burning Plain" suffers for essentially feeling like more of the same, from a writer (and now filmmaker) who seems intent on keeping the surprises coming.

Built around a central image of a mobile home trailer ablaze in the middle of an open field -- hence the title, get it? -- the film feels too programmatic, as it is too easy to think of the writer at work, note cards pinned to a wall or perhaps a Venn diagram drawn on a dry-erase board. The film doesn't breathe, never catches the awkward, unpredictable air of humanity as it locks itself into its creator's overly schematic conceits.

Who was in that trailer, how they got there and the ongoing emotional aftermath of what they left behind forms the centerpiece of the film, which bounces between years and locales from one cut to antihero. Once the viewer understands how all the puzzle-pieces fit together, the film becomes a bit of a slow drag as it marches dutifully along. And though the finale brings everything together in a bold, expansive montage, showing finally how a person moves forward even as they can never escape their past, it is more a relief than a revelation.

Charlize Theron continues her campaign to prove she is more than just a pretty face, portraying a wayward, self-cutting restaurant manager with deep secrets that won't stay submerged. Though she commands the screen with her presence (and occasional nudity, an increasing rarity for an actress of her stature), she is never able to connect the dots to make the character anything more than the plot device Arriaga needs her to be.

"The Burning Plain" winds up a soft fizzle, more a dutiful exercise than anything else.

-- Mark Olsen

Photo: Actors JD Pardo, Charlize Theron, director Guillermo Arriaga and actors Jennifer Lawrence and Jose Maria Yazpik attend "The Burning Plain" photo call held at the Piazzale del Casino during the 65th Venice Film Festival on August 29 in Venice, Italy. Credit: Wire Image.

Comments

[Doug Johnson]

What a terrible reviewer. First of all, you don't even get the title reference which is a double entendre evoking the cinematically brilliant echo of the crop duster scene in North by Northwest. But why no one running? Because Theron isn't in the scene and being on the run is the central motif for her character.

Second, more of the same? Ridiculous. This script takes place over twenty years or so and the stories are connected far more organically than by a car crash or an accidental shooting.

Finally, the real story of this movie is that Arriaga is a brilliant writer and director of potent female characters. Theron, Basinger (whose stunning, shakingly haunted performance you fail to even mention), new comer Jennifer Lawrence, and the winsome youngster Tessa la make for a wonderful evening at the pictures, unless of course what you are there to see is overwrought testosterone and a backseat for the gals. Theron's performance is in fact one of her best. Maybe you missed the fact that her naked scene sets the tone for her entire performance. Somehow she manages to come off as fully clothed even while naked, neither vulnerable nor enticing, but rather powerfully calloused in a way that demands explanation.

The sad thing is that knuckleheads like you may be responsible for keeping this outstanding movie out of North American theatres.