So, this week I managed to watch lots of films that I had heard a lot about and funnily enough I watched these two, "Buried" and "127 Hours" almost back-to-back. The title just points out the similarity in theme of these two films. You have a white male getting trapped in an awful place, struggling to get out and being in such a bad situation in which no one would ever wanna be. Besides the different characters and backgrounds and ofcourse the different endings these two movies seemed trully similar to me. Here, I need to inform the people who haven't seen them and would like to stay ignorant of details that there are going to be a few spoilers up ahead. So, this SPOILERS sign is needed.
Buried
Buried
I wanted to watch this film because of the hype that followed it since the Sundance festival of 2010. The reviews were so positive that I couldn't wait for it to hit the screens in Greece. However, this took a long time. Now, that I've seen it I have to say that I'm impressed. I'm impressed because of how much Rodrigo Cortés managed to do with such a small budget, only one set and only one actor on screen. He took a really claustrophobic and somewhat monotonous script and transformed it into one hell of a ride. Even with all the black screen from time to time when the only sound one can hear is Ryan Reynold's heavy breath, Cortés manages to keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next and what the hero's fate will be.
And now we come to the hero himself. I'm impressed with Ryan Reynolds and his performance. I have to admit that I wasn't really find of him before. Not that he bothered me in the films he was in. He was always funny and pleasant to watch. It's just that I never thought he'd be so good. Reynolds managed to make his character in this film so lovable that the viewer wanted to see him saved. I breathed whenever he breathed, I got scared whenever he was scared and I was holding my breath till the very end.
This was helped very much by the desicion not to show any flashbacks from the hero's life or to cut to the people to whom he was talking to the telephone. The action was left only in the coffin where he was kept not knowing why or how and the viewers got to know his backstory only from the phones he made and the details he gave.
As for the ending, I read somewhere that Buried had one of the best endings of the decade. Perhaps this is true. It sure had a great ending even though as I was watching it I shouted a loud "No!". After an hour and a half with this hopeless man I really wanted him to get out alive, and maybe this is what makes a film memorable. Not the happy ending but the feeling you have in your stomach while the end credits roll.
127 Hours
Two days after "Buried" I managed to watch the new Danny Boyle film. I had also heard the hype about James Franco's performance and after his Golden Globe nomination for it, I was really curious. Unlike Ryan Reynolds, I had more faith in Franco, maybe because I've been watching him for more years or perhaps because of my faith for the perfomances Danny Boyle gets out of his actors. And I wasn't dissapointed.
James Franco did a really good job with this role. Even if I couldn't understand how on earth someone goes out in the wild all alone without having a phone with him for emergencies, Franco made it really believable. (So, I guess, I have a problem with the actual Aron Ralston, who in my eyes is crazy!). Now, with this story I felt more scared. Perhaps it is because it is a real story, or because it can happen more easily than being captured in Iraq. Or maybe because of the fact that Aron couldn't move his one arm and was trapped in mid-air inside a slot in the mountains, without a phone. Ok, I know that he probably wouldn't be able to make a call from so deep, but again, who does that?
The truth is that as a whole this film was nothing too great. You are captured by the story and the story alone and you really want to see how the hell he got out of there. (Because, the film lets you know from the beginning that this is a true story that is based on the book which the hero wrote himself, which means that he got out). And the actual escape is so creepy that my mother couldn't look at the screen. However this is not a pleasant film, which means that you won't want to revisit it again.
The film leaves you (or, at least it left me) with the thought of what a man can do in order to survive. Could you cut off your own arm if it meant that you'd live? Would you go out in the wild all alone without making sure someone knows where you've gone? And most of all, would you take your cellphone with you?
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