Buried

You've got a guy in a box. The guy is the only person you see. The box is the only place you see him. To those who suffer from claustrophobia - you will be fine so long as you watch the film in a cinema and not in a coffin.
Duh.
Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes (The Contestant) does not have much to work with in this film written by Chris Sparling (ATM). With such restrictions it's a wonder it got made at all, though it's a good thing that it did. I would love to have heard the pitch...
Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds - The Proposal) wakes up in pitch black. He fumbles around for his zippo lighter and sparks it up. Paul Conroy is in a coffin buried in the ground.
Bugger.
A mobile phone that isn't Paul's rings; it is Jabir (Jose Luis Garcia Perez - 8 Dates) an Iraqi terrorist who wants Paul to organise five million dollars for his release. Frantic, Paul starts making calls to his family but only gets answering machines; so he tries the police and the FBI. As he talks to switchboard operators and the inevitable 'wrong department' we learn that Paul was hired by an American company to drive a truck around Iraq delivering kitchens as part of the rebuilding of the country. The convoy of trucks he was in was destroyed by a roadside bomb; many of his co-workers died, some were kidnapped.
Paul talks to Dan Brenner (Robert Paterson - Sahara), an American based in Iraq who deals with civilian contractors like Paul who get kidnapped all the time. Dan assures Paul that he is going to do everything he can to find him. Paul is not so sure; he only has so much air left in the coffin and his phone is slowly running out of battery power.
As time passes Paul learns what happened to one of his co-workers who was also taken via a video sent to him by Jabir. Jabir wants Paul to make a video of himself for Jabir to show to the world. Dan tells Paul not to do that, it might make things worse.
While Paul is desperately trying to get in touch with his wife and son, Dan and his team trace Paul's mobile phone signal to try and pinpoint his location so they can find where in the desert he is buried and dig him out.
Tick. Frikken. Tock.
What an interesting little film this is. Hitchcock would have had a ball with the concept, that's for sure. I think they played on that a bit with the minimalistic poster and Hitchcockian-themed opening credits.
There aren't many actors who could have pulled this off and Ryan Reynolds did a very good job showing us an extremely intimate look into this man's terrifying situation.
Talk about low budget. Why spend millions of dollars on sprawling sets and mind blowing special effects when all you need to make a film is a box and a couple of household items!
The film kept me entertained throughout, there weren't really any lulls to speak of. Enough things happen to Paul whilst in the coffin to fill out the hour and a half. Plus I reckon Cortes broke the record for number of camera angles shot of one person in a feature film!
Many kudos go to Victor Reyes for his tension inducing score.
Sparling has broken a few rules with his script, especially when it comes to exposition. So many screenwriting books say 'Show, don't tell.' How else are you to let the audience know what's going on when all your main character can do is tell?
His script can be found here. I can't wait to read it!
Things I learnt: always carry with you a selection of mobile phone batteries; learn your way around all mobile phone menus; don't work for a money hungry prick.
Very clever.
Seven out of ten.