Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Burning Plain Blu-ray Movie Review

Burns plainly.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater December 30, 2009

If you’ve followed the work of screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga—who penned Amores Perros, 21 Grams, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Babel—then you’re already aware that he has an affinity for non-linear narratives that separate his often esoterically linked characters in space and time. In Babel, for instance, this spatial/temporal hopscotching serves to draw out unlikely comparisons between disparate lives, showing the universality of human experience. His screenplays seem reminiscent of the “blanket” speech in I Heart Huckabees, where Dustin Hoffman’s existential detective shows Jason Schwartzman how we’re all connected, all part of the same cosmic fabric. When this technique works, when it frames a story that’s worth telling, it can be insightful and illuminating. However, when used to organize what amounts to an overwrought melodrama, like The Burning Plain—Arriaga’s directorial debut—the narrative trickery comes off as just that: a trick on the audience that’s more likely to induce exasperated sighs than satisfied ah-ha’s.

Charlize Theron bares all for some kids walking below.

The Burning Plain opens with a shot of an isolated trailer home engulfed in flames somewhere in the American Southwest. While we won’t learn who set the fire until much later— though it’s a mystery you’ll figure out long before the film’s reveal—we know almost immediately that the fire has killed Nick Martinez (Joaquim de Almeida) and his lover Gina (Kim Basinger), a housewife whose husband, Robert (Brett Cullen), is sexually repulsed by her recent mastectomy scar. In flashbacks, we follow the progression of Gina’s illicit affair and her attempts to hide it from her family. Jumping forward, in the aftermath of Gina’s death, her teenaged daughter Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) strikes up her own complicated relationship with Nick’s son Santiago (J.D. Pardo). Meanwhile, in a separate strand—which will inevitably connect—Charlize Theron plays Sylvia, a nymphomaniac who owns a fancy-schmancy restaurant along the dreary Pacific Northwestern coastline. There’s clearly something wrong with Sylvia—she sleeps with sleaze-ball customers, considers jumping off a cliff, and stands naked in front of her apartment window while a bunch of kids gape from below—and it seems obvious that her past has been marked by some deep psycho-sexual trauma. She’s also being trailed by a mysterious Hispanic man (José María Yazpik), whom she tries—unsuccessfully—to seduce. There’s definitely a plot here, but it’s been chopped up and rearranged to provide elaborate twists that, in a linear narrative, would simply be the natural turn of events.

The trouble here is not that Arriaga seems to be employing his old non-linear gimmick simply for its own sake—though an argument could be made for that as well—but that he’s deliberately trying to hoodwink his audience into thinking the story is more of a mystery than it actually is. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that Gina and Sylvia’s timelines are some 10 to 20 years apart, or that there are younger and older versions of certain characters, but the film fails to give us any real visual or verbal cues to hint at this time discrepancy. So, when we finally catch on and realize we’ve been had—which doesn’t take nearly as long as the film seems to think it will—The Burning Plain’s narrative has exhausted our sympathies and exposed itself as cheap trick. The beans are spilled and the curtain is lifted some three-fourths of the way through the film, but the big reveal is completely unsurprising and only confirms what the audience has probably been thinking all along. If The Burning Plain had been told in a more typical A-to-B fashion, I doubt that it could’ve sustained much interest at all, as the story, with it’s over-pointed themes of passion, guilt, and forgiveness, seems more primed for a melodramatic telenovella than a serious film.

Which is a shame, because Arriaga’s screenplays are usually steeped in genuine empathy, with stories that emanate from the characters, and not the other way around. The plotting here just seems artificially machinated, too eager to draft the characters into the service of its own cleverness. The symbolism is also indelicately on-the-nose, with literally burning passions, birds and planes falling out of the sky, and the cold hard Pacific rain perhaps a bit too indicative of Sylvia’s mental state. For Arriaga’s first time in the director’s chair, though, The Burning Plain isn’t completely razed, and if you sift through the ashes you’ll find some terrific performances. Kim Basinger is great as a harried mom trying to keep her secrets under wraps, and as Gina she does some of her best work since 2002’s 8 Mile. Likewise, Charlize Theron is as convincing—and brave—as ever. She’s never been afraid to tackle harsh and even off-putting characters—see Monster—and her role as Sylvia requires her to seem vacant and frozen on the outside, while an emotional sea roils underneath. It’s a difficult balance to achieve, and she’s always interesting to watch, even when the story is at its soapiest. It’s all in vain, though, as The Burning Plain, once all of its narrative trickery has burned out, can’t even generate enough heat to be a mere potboiler.

The Burning Plain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Burning Plain blazes onto Blu-ray with a 2.40:1, 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer that's more than capable of handling the film's many moods. In the disc's "making of" documentary, director Guillermo Arriaga says that he used an elemental motif—earth, wind, water, fire—and it's clear that each story in the film is given it's own tonal feeling. Charlize Theron's scenes, set largely in the Pacific Northwest, are characterized by a bluish cast, with water in nearly every shot, while Kim Basinger's narrative thread is marked by dusty Southwestern tones. Though there's a definite restraint to the palette, color are deep and stable throughout, with sporadic bold splashes like bright blue denim or the intense oranges of the trailer home fire. Black levels are also strong, contrast is nicely weighted, and if shadow detail is occasionally crushed, it seems to be intentional. The Burning Plain certainly isn't the sharpest film I've seen this year—there are a few scattered soft shots—but there's still plenty of detail to be found in the image, and many scenes have a fantastic, "window into the world" sense of depth and presence. Finally, the film's grain structure is very fine, and I didn't detect any banding, blocking, edge enhancement, or any of the other usual suspects. No real complaints here.

The Burning Plain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I'm always happy when a drama, which could easily settle for a front-heavy, dialogue-driven sonic experience, goes out of its way to deliver thoughtful audio design and a solid and immersive soundfield. And that's exactly what you get with The Burning Plain's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, which surprises by being almost constantly active and complementary to the unfolding story. This is still a quiet film, but the subtlety of the sound design is effective in drawing us into the world of the narrative. The surround channels output ambience with nearly every scene, from wind through the waving fields of sorghum and rain pouring down on Portland, to cicadas seething in the desert plains and the sound of dominos being slapped down onto a folding table. The film also has a fair share of discrete effects—a cropduster zipping through the rear speakers, cars roaring past, etc.—and all of the pans, crosses, and fades sound natural and unobtrusive. We even get some deep LFE engagement courtesy of waves pounding against a cliff, and the rippling explosion of the mobile home sends debris ripping outward impressively. The music—by Hans Zimmer and The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez—is detailed and weighty, dialogue is perfectly prioritized, and the whole experience is a lot more engaging than I had expected.

The Burning Plain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Making of The Burning Plain (SD, 43:27)
Director Guillermo Arriaga may not give us a commentary track on this disc, but this "making of" documentary is just as thorough, covering every element of the production. Arriaga truly has something to say about nearly everyone involved in the film, from the DP and camera operators, to the costume designer, makeup artist, set dresser, and, of course, the film's stars. More interesting, however, is when Arriaga discusses some of the inspirations for the script, including a house that burned down in his childhood neighborhood. If you enjoyed the film, this is certainly worth watching.

The Music of The Burning Plain (SD, 15:33)
Who'd have thought The Burning Plain would unite legendary film composer Hans Zimmer with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of modern prog-art-rock outfit The Mars Volta? It's a surprising combination, and it totally works for the film. Here we get an inside look at some of the early discussions about the score, along with footage from the actual recording sessions.

HDNet: A Look at The Burning Plain (1080i, 4:46)
A fairly standard promo that features clips from the film and insights by director Guillermo Arriaga.

Also From Magnolia Home Entertainment Blu-ray (1080p, 8:31 total)
Includes trailers for Serious Moonlight, Ong Bak 2, Red Cliff, and Bronson, along with a promo for HDNet. As an aside, judging from the trailer, John Woo's Red Cliff is going to look great on Blu-ray.

The Burning Plain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are some interesting ideas at work within The Burning Plain, but the overall experience is too studied, too manipulative in its timeline, and too melodramatic to feel authentic. While fans of Babel or 21 Grams may want to give this one a shot, this is rental material only.