The Burning Plain

Last updated
The Burning Plain
The burning plain film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Guillermo Arriaga
Written byGuillermo Arriaga
Produced by Walter F. Parkes
Laurie MacDonald
Starring Charlize Theron
Kim Basinger
Jennifer Lawrence
Cinematography Robert Elswit
Edited by Craig Wood
Music by Omar Rodríguez-López
Hans Zimmer
Production
companies
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures [1] [2]
Release dates
  • August 29, 2008 (2008-08-29)(Venice)
  • September 18, 2009 (2009-09-18)(United States)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million
Box office$5.5 million [1]

The Burning Plain is a 2008 American drama film directed and written by Guillermo Arriaga and starring Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Basinger and Joaquim de Almeida. In Arriaga's directorial debut, he films a story that has multipart story strands woven together as in his previous screenplays. Filming of The Burning Plain began in New Mexico in November 2007, and the film was released in late 2008 in various festivals, before a limited theatrical release in 2009. The film was a critical and commercial failure.

Contents

Plot

Typical of Arriaga's works, this film is told in a nonlinear narrative, where events are revealed out of sequence. The following plot summary is in chronological order, thus does not reflect the exact sequence of the events as seen on screen.

The story starts some time during the mid-1990s in a small town near Las Cruces, New Mexico (close to the border with Mexico), where Gina, a wife and mother to four children, is introduced. Gina is having an affair with a local man named Nick Martinez, who also has a family of his own, but unbeknownst to the two, Gina's teenaged daughter Mariana finds out about their love affair. Mariana follows her mother to Nick's trailer. Knowing the two are inside, and in an effort to make them end their affair, she disconnects the gas pipe leading into the trailer and sets it on fire. The flames eventually reach a gas tank, which explodes, consuming the entire trailer and claiming Nick and Gina's lives, although Mariana had no intention of killing either of them. After Gina and Nick's funeral, Mariana and Nick's son, Santiago, slowly begin to develop a relationship of their own. Mariana soon becomes aware that she is pregnant with Santiago's daughter. The two flee to Mexico amid disapproval from their families and decide to have the baby there; after she gives birth to their daughter, Mariana abandons her family and changes her name to Sylvia.

More than a decade later, Sylvia is working at a high-end restaurant in Oregon. Despite her success, she does not have any stable relationships but only casual encounters, and has persistent thoughts of suicide. Here, a mysterious man follows her around. It is Carlos, a close friend and business partner of Santiago. After an accident involving their crop-dusting plane, the hospitalized Santiago urges Carlos to look for Sylvia, for whom Santiago has been searching since she abandoned him and their two-day-old daughter.

Because Carlos does not speak English and Sylvia does not speak Spanish, he has trouble explaining to her the purpose of his visit. Instead, he surprises Sylvia with her now 12-year-old daughter, Maria. Maria, who was already reluctant to meet her estranged mother, is heartbroken when Sylvia hastily departs without speaking to either when she sees Maria and Carlos waiting for her outside her home. After realizing her mistake, Sylvia enlists the help of her friend Laura to find Carlos and Maria.

After reuniting, Sylvia, Maria, and Carlos go to Mexico, where Sylvia apologizes to Maria for the years she has been absent from her life. They visit Santiago, who is sedated due to the extent of his injuries. Sylvia confesses her past sins by his bedside, unsure if he will ever wake up again. The doctor reassures them that he will be fine, and the story concludes on a hopeful note.

Cast

Production

The Burning Plain was written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga in his directorial debut after writing the screenplays for director Alejandro González Iñárritu's films Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), and Babel (2006). [4] Arriaga said that he wanted to write a script for himself to direct after 11 years of scriptwriting. The writer-director described the premise, "There are very intense love stories here that take place in different places and times, with characters trying to find the healing powers of love, forgiveness and redemption." [5] Arriaga wrote the story of The Burning Plain to weave together multipart story strands. The film was financed by 2929 Productions, and Constantini Films and The Weinstein Company purchased the rights to distribute The Burning Plain in Latin America. [4] The film will have a budget of under $20 million. [5] The Burning Plain began filming in New Mexico on November 5, 2007. [6] Other filming took place in Portland and Depoe Bay in Oregon. [7]

Release

The Burning Plain was screened at TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival, in September 2008, followed by screenings at Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville the last weekend of October, and the Savannah Film Festival, which was held from October 25 to November 1, 2008. It was an entrant of the international competition of the 65th Venice International Film Festival. The Burning Plain was released in theaters on September 18, 2009. [8]

Reception

Critical reception

The Burning Plain has received generally poor reviews from critics. As of June 2020, it holds a 38% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 79 reviews with an average rating of 4.93/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "This heavily symbolic, melodramatic multi-narrative drama lacks emotional resonance." [9] Metacritic assigned a score of 45 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [10]

Of the most positive reviews, David Gritten writing for The Daily Telegraph decided that it "has all the right credentials: it is serious-minded and dramatic, with universal themes and a clutch of fine acting performances." [11] Wendy Ide, writing for The Times that it is an "elegantly structured tale of lives laced together with tragedy and guilt." Ide also praised Theron's performance and concluded that it is a "quality production." [12]

According to Time Out , "Arriaga has delivered a compelling and entertaining debut that stays true to his earlier interests." [13]

Box office

The film grossed $58,749 in its first weekend in North America. [14] It grossed $200,730 domestically and $5,267,917 in foreign countries, for a total of $5,468,647 worldwide. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlize Theron</span> South African and American actress and producer

Charlize Theron is a South African and naturalised American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2016, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

<i>Monster</i> (2003 film) 2003 film by Patty Jenkins

Monster is a 2003 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Patty Jenkins in her feature directorial debut. The film follows serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a street prostitute who murdered seven of her male clients between 1989 and 1990 and was executed in Florida in 2002. It stars Charlize Theron as Wuornos, and Christina Ricci as her semi-fictionalized lover, Selby Wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalina Sandino Moreno</span> Colombian actress (born 1981)

Catalina Sandino Moreno is a Colombian actress. She shared the Silver Bear with Charlize Theron and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her leading role in Maria Full of Grace (2004). As of 2023, she stars as Tabitha Matthews in the Epix television series From.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina Prince-Bythewood</span> American film director and screenwriter

Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood is an American film director and screenwriter. She began her career as a writer for multiple television shows in the 1990s, including the anthology series CBS Schoolbreak Special, for which she was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards. Prince-Bythewood made her feature film directorial debut with Love & Basketball (2000), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guillermo Arriaga</span> Mexican screenwriter and film director

Guillermo Arriaga Jordán is a Mexican novelist, screenwriter, director and producer. Self-defined as "a hunter who works as a writer," he is best known for his Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay nominations for Babel and his screenplay for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which received the 2005 Cannes Best Screenplay Award.

<i>Babel</i> (film) 2006 psychological drama film

Babel is a 2006 psychological drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. The multi-narrative drama features an ensemble cast and portrays interwoven stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. An international co-production among companies based in the United States, Mexico and France, the film completes Arriaga and Iñárritu's Death Trilogy, following Amores perros (2000) and 21 Grams (2003).

<i>Reindeer Games</i> 2000 American action crime thriller film

Reindeer Games is a 2000 American action crime thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer in his final feature directorial outing before his 2002 death. It stars Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, Dennis Farina, James Frain, Donal Logue, Danny Trejo and Clarence Williams III. The film revolves around ex-convict Rudy Duncan, who is dragged into a situation against his will: he must help a group of thieves rob a casino in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, or he will be killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diablo Cody</span> American writer and producer

Brook Maurio, known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candid blog and subsequent memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper (2005). Cody received critical acclaim for her screenwriting debut film, Juno (2007), winning the Academy Award, and the BAFTA Award.

<i>Sleepwalking</i> (film) 2008 American film

Sleepwalking is a 2008 American drama film starring Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson and Dennis Hopper. It centers on the bonding of a 30-year-old man and his 12-year-old niece after she is abandoned by her mother. The girl is taken in by the state after he loses his job and apartment. The two then depart on a road trip to his father's farm, a place he and his sister never intended to go back to. Sleepwalking was an original screenplay by Zac Stanford and was the directorial debut of William Maher.

<i>The Road</i> (2009 film) 2009 film directed by John Hillcoat

The Road is a 2009 American post-apocalyptic survival film directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall, based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. The film stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as a father and his son in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Mariana Peñalva is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Mexico City, 20 February 1979, Founder or Magnificus Films and CEO of the agro-biotechnological start-up Fungus Sapiens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernanda Romero</span> Mexican actress, model and singer (born 1983)

Fernanda Romero is a Mexican actress, model and singer. She is most noted for her starring role in the Mexican telenovela Eternamente tuya and her supporting role in the American film The Eye.

Perla is a Mexican telenovela produced by TV Azteca and starred Silvia Navarro and Leonardo Garcia as protagonists.

<i>Madres egoístas</i> Mexican TV series or program

Madres egoístas is an Argentine-Mexican telenovela, produced by Juan Osorio for Telefe and Televisa in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlize Theron filmography</span>

Charlize Theron is a South African-American actress who made her film debut in an uncredited role as a follower of a cult in the 1995 horror film Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest. Theron followed this with appearances as a hitman’s girlfriend in 2 Days in the Valley, a waitress in the romantic comedy Trial and Error (1997), and a woman plagued with demonic visions in the mystery thriller The Devil's Advocate (1997) with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. She appeared in the science fiction thriller The Astronaut's Wife with Johnny Depp, and Lasse Hallström's The Cider House Rules. For her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the crime drama Monster (2003), Theron received the Academy Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. The following year, she played Swedish entertainer Britt Ekland in the biographical film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.

<i>Atomic Blonde</i> 2017 film by David Leitch

Atomic Blonde is a 2017 American action thriller film directed by David Leitch from a screenplay by Kurt Johnstad, based on the 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart. The film stars Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella, and Toby Jones. The story revolves around a spy who has to find a list of double agents that is being smuggled into the West on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver and Delilah Productions</span> American media production company

Denver and Delilah Productions or Denver & Delilah Films is a film production company founded by actress and producer Charlize Theron. It is based in Los Angeles, California.

La última esperanza is a Mexican telenovela produced by Eugenio Cobo for Televisa in 1993.

<i>The Old Guard</i> (2020 film) 2020 American action-fantasy film

The Old Guard is a 2020 American superhero film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Greg Rucka, based on his comic book of the same name. The film stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Harry Melling, Veronica Ngo, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and follows a team of immortal mercenaries on a revenge mission.

The Old Guard is a series of graphic novels created by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández. It has released over 16 issues from three series and a film adaptation from Netflix and Skydance Media with a sequel in the works. It follows a group of immortal soldiers, led by a +6,000-year-old woman named Andromache of Scythia (Andy), who have been around for potentially thousands of years and have formed a group known as The Old Guard.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Burning Plain (2009). Box Office Mojo (2009-11-26). Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  2. ↑ "The Burning Plain (2008)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films .
  3. ↑ Burn Notice TV Series
  4. 1 2 John Hopewell (November 5, 2007). "Constantini, TWC hot for 'Burning'". Variety . Retrieved November 13, 2007.
  5. 1 2 Michael Fleming (July 11, 2007). "Charlize Theron to star in 'Burning'". Variety . Retrieved November 13, 2007.
  6. ↑ "'The Burning Plain' seeks extras in southern New Mexico". KDBC 4 News. October 23, 2007. Retrieved November 13, 2007.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Filmed in Oregon 1908-2015" (PDF). Oregon Film Council. Oregon State Library. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  8. ↑ Stuart Kemp (November 5, 2007). "Market buyers pick up pace, pics". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved November 13, 2007.[ dead link ]
  9. ↑ "The Burning Plain (2009)" . Retrieved 4 June 2020– via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  10. ↑ "Burning Plain, The (2009): Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved November 7, 2009.
  11. ↑ Venice Film Festival review: The Burning Plain The Daily Telegraph, August 29, 2008.
  12. ↑ The Burning Plain-Venice Film Festival The Times, August 30, 2008.
  13. ↑ The Burning Plain review Archived 2009-02-06 at the Wayback Machine Time Out, August 2008.
  14. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for September 18–20, 2009 - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved November 7, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.