THE BURNING PLAIN (2008) with Guillermo Arriaga
Saturday, 7:00 pm, Paramount
Director: Guillermo Arriaga
Writer: Guillermo Arriaga
Cinematographer: Robert Elswit, John Toll
Cast: Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Lawrence
Running Time: 111 min
Guillermo Arriaga’s unique ability to craft works which begin as apparent portmanteau films before coalescing into striking, cohesive aggregates, has rightly earned him a standing in the upper echelon of contemporary screenwriters. With The Burning Plain, Arriaga steps behind the camera for the first time in his career, directing from his own (unsurprisingly) masterfully constructed script. The results prove nothing less than extraordinary
Starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, the film bounces between three stories set in Oregon and New Mexico. Arriaga tackles conflicts both internal and external; ranging from Theron’s inability to connect with those around her, both sexually and personally, to the volatile race relations at play between Mexicans and Americans in the Las Cruces desert. Theron plays her role with an icy, minimalist distance, Basinger with the brand of injured sexuality that only she can achieve – both deliver performances that match, or perhaps even best, their past Oscar-winning work, and were received with universal praise when the film screened last month at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Making the move from scribe to director has historically proven difficult; happily, Arriaga proves fully capable, approaching the film with an assured, robustly detailed style which more than does justice to his script. From the aching, desolate shot of a trailer burning in the vast New Mexico nothingness which opens the film, Arriaga continually astounds visually, both through similarly gorgeous and evocative scenes of significant scope and countless well-executed, emotionally charged close-ups of the entire cast.
Before stepping behind the camera, Guillermo Arriaga had already confirmed himself, through his writing of the Inarritu-directed films Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel, as one of the most important figures of contemporary cinema. With The Burning Plain, he has raised the bar even higher: asserting himself as both master storyteller and strong director.
Moderator: Hamid Naficy (Festival Fellow)
