Kim Basinger Movie:

Editorial Review:
A painful secret separates a mother and daughter in The Burning Plain, the feature directorial debut by the screenwriter of Babel, 21 Grams, and Amores Perros. The story moves fluidly in time: In the present, Sylvia (Charlize Theron) seems to be leading a confident life as the manager of an expensive restaurant, but it’s a mask covering promiscuity, self-mutilation, and suicidal impulses. Many years earlier, a young girl named Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence, The Bill Engvall Show) tries to piece together what led her mother (Kim Basinger) into an extramarital affair...even as Mariana herself falls into a dangerous relationship with the son of her mother’s lover. These threads and more are interwoven into an increasingly potent knot. The Burning Plain has some obvious dialogue and a few off-key notes, but despite that is a striking first effort by Guillermo Arriaga. Theron has always been best in roles that draw on anger and pain, like her astonishing performance in Monster; she goes bland when called on to portray nobility and happiness, but give her inner demons and her remarkable beauty roils with hidden emotions. The rest of the supporting cast--including John Corbett and Robin Tunney in small roles--turn in strong work. Like a boa constrictor, the movie slowly coils around you, then squeezes. --Bret Fetzer

The Burning Plain [Theatrical Release] Reviews:
The weight of the blame!
2009-10-14 - Again, the same team of Amores Perros and Babel strikes us with this memorable and haunting movie.

A story told from different perspectives through three generations the narrative ellipsis. An untamed search of a weird woman who seems to live out of this world , a disappointed married woman who is rejected by his own husband and loved by a third man, a young couple who fall in love despite the circumstances, have a common point of departure.

The marvelous script never falls in commonplaces. The approach about the painful situation of this unhappy woman (Kim Bassinger) who suffered breast cancer is not neither indulgent nor melodramatic. On the other hand, the marvelous landscapes (Portland's seashore) depicts with pictorial expression the crumbling spiritual of Marianne (Sylvia).

Finally the amazing edition process and the wonderful performances of all the cast make of this film one of the best of the year.

Don't miss it!



Mothers and Daughters: Needs
2009-09-20 - BURNING PLAIN is far more than a successful movie, it is an art work on celluloid that holds the viewer's attention and plays with the mind and emotions in a way that few other films have succeeded. Guillermo Arriaga has written another intelligent, cleverly paced walk through a maze that ultimately leads to finding all of the handsomely carved pieces of a puzzle that fit together so well it defies improvement. Known for other brilliant scripts ('Amores Perros', '21 Grams', 'Babel') this script he elects to direct with a cast of actors providing extraordinary performances. If this film doesn't win in every category of the Oscars this year.....

The film has been given the tagline 'Love heals. Love absolves. Love burns.' The story, told in fragments of times past and times present, explores the lives of four women whose relationships are part of the secret the film reveals: Kim Bassinger is Gina, a married woman with children, including a perceptive and damaged daughter Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence), who has survived the mutilation of breast cancer and finds desperately needed love in the arms of Nick (Joaquim de Almeida), a clandestine love affair that takes place in a deserted trailer house in the outskirts of Las Cruces, NM. Charlize Theron (Sylvia) is the manager of a classy restaurant in Oregon who soothes past bruises with numerous superficial liaisons, one being with her chef (John Corbett). Maria (Tessa la) is a young girl living in Mexico with her father Santiago (Danny Pino) and his co-worker and friend Carlos (José María Yazpik). Each of these four women - Gina, Sylvia, Mariana, and Maria - is complexly tied to the others. The match that ignites the story is a fire that ends the lives of Gina and Nick, and after this tragedy the children of the two lovers - Mariana and young Santiago (J.D. Pardo) - bond and provide further fodder for the development of the ending of the story. To say more would destroy the tense, beautifully hewn script's conclusion. All is not as it seems until Arriaga pastes the pieces of the conundrum together.

The cast is first rate, with Bassinger and Theron offering some of their finest work to date. The cinematography (Robert Elswit, John Toll), the music score (Omar Rodriguez-Lopez), the careful editing (Craig Wood) and the casting (Debra Zane) all are first class. Once again Guillermo has proved his gifts as an artist - both as a writer and now as a director. One of the finest films of the year. Grady Harp, September 09

Mothers and Daughters: Needs
2009-09-20 - BURNING PLAIN is far more than a successful movie, it is an art work on celluloid that holds the viewer's attention and plays with the mind and emotions in a way that few other films have succeeded. Guillermo Arriaga has written another intelligent, cleverly paced walk through a maze that ultimately leads to finding all of the handsomely carved pieces of a puzzle that fit together so well it defies improvement. Known for other brilliant scripts ('Amores Perros', '21 Grams', 'Babel') this script he elects to direct with a cast of actors providing extraordinary performances. If this film doesn't win in every category of the Oscars this year.....

The film has been given the tagline 'Love heals. Love absolves. Love burns.' The story, told in fragments of times past and times present, explores the lives of four women whose relationships are part of the secret the film reveals: Kim Bassinger is Gina, a married woman with children, including a perceptive and damaged daughter Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence), who has survived the mutilation of breast cancer and finds desperately needed love in the arms of Nick (Joaquim de Almeida), a clandestine love affair that takes place in a deserted trailer house in the outskirts of Las Cruces, NM. Charlize Theron (Sylvia) is the manager of a classy restaurant in Oregon who soothes past bruises with numerous superficial liaisons, one being with her chef (John Corbett). Maria (Tessa la) is a young girl living in Mexico with her father Santiago (Danny Pino) and his co-worker and friend Carlos (José María Yazpik). Each of these four women - Gina, Sylvia, Mariana, and Maria - is complexly tied to the others. The match that ignites the story is a fire that ends the lives of Gina and Nick, and after this tragedy the children of the two lovers - Mariana and young Santiago (J.D. Pardo) - bond and provide further fodder for the development of the ending of the story. To say more would destroy the tense, beautifully hewn script's conclusion. All is not as it seems until Arriaga pastes the pieces of the conundrum together.

The cast is first rate, with Bassinger and Theron offering some of their finest work to date. The cinematography (Robert Elswit, John Toll), the music score (Omar Rodriguez-Lopez), the careful editing (Craig Wood) and the casting (Debra Zane) all are first class. Once again Guillermo has proved his gifts as an artist - both as a writer and now as a director. One of the finest films of the year. Grady Harp, September 09

Time changes everything.
2009-09-03 - In 2006 (at the curious age of 16) I had quickly become a fan of both Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's work through their films Amores Perros, 21 Grams, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Babel (in order of release). In hearing of their creative break-up, it certainly stirred, in my own mind, a possibility of double the good films... or a film-making battle accomplishing nothing. "The Burning Plain" by Guillermo Arriaga is the first of these fruits. Good or bad? You decide. I think good... but missing something.

The Burning Plain follows the story of several different people separated by time and space -- Sylvia, a woman in Oregon who must undertake an emotional odyssey to rid herself of her troubled past; Mariana and Santiago, two teenagers trying to piece together the shattered lives of their parents in a New Mexico border town; Maria, a little girl who goes on a border-crossing voyage to help her parents find redemption, forgiveness, and love; and Gina and Nick, a couple who must deal with an intense and clandestine affair... because they are both married.

Charlize Theron leads the ensemble cast. Theron, I have previously seen in a consortium of roles from Sleepwalking and Monster to The Italian Job. I am glad to say she brings a much more subtle feeling to Sylvia, the central character in the film, without going over the top. The sides we see from the past and present also reflect Sylvia's personality; a side of professionalism brought in by a new skin while her not-forgotten past hiding deep within is brought out by her sexual trysts and self-mutilation.

Also leading the present side of the story is newcomer Tessa Ia in a challenging role she takes at face value despite her young age. With Mexican actor Jose Maria Yazpik in a gentle role, along with Theron, the three are arguably the best actors in the film. Ia's performances hails true talent and not nearly enough credit. With the fierce look of a child trying to obtain forgiveness in her own soul, Ia is an actress mature beyond her years. The present stories take on these subtleties that audiences will figure out after the film has ended. This is where the second half (figuratively speaking) suffers.

Focused too much of what is going on in a certain time in the past, the characters of Gina and Nick suffer due to a lack of development. We know of their affair, we know what is going on and we are given too much of that without enough understanding of who they are or why they are doing it. Kim Basinger does her best in the role but ultimately is too flat with her delivery. Gina is a sympathetic character because of the screenplay and where the writing takes her, not because of Basinger's performance. Joaquim de Almeida's Nick is more interesting despite a lack of screen time, also due to the lack of development.

The story of Mariana and Santiago is more interesting because we are given a beginning, middle and end. JD Pardo gives a nice understanding to Santiago and allows for a much better look at the character as an adult (played by Danny Pino). However, Jennifer Lawrence as Mariana is probably my most disliked actor of the group. Despite winning the best newcomer award at the Venice Film Festival, her delivery is monotone and lacks true feeling for what has occurred for her character. My criticism stems from the two very different times of Mariana's life... Lawrence's believability doesn't change and only becomes more stale as time goes on. But Brett Cullen and Robin Tunney make nice and genuine appearances to help level out the cast.

My only other problem is that the film doesn't bring anything new to the table. The film has it's own style, which is noticeable fairly quick, and I was hoping that it wouldn't be just a carbon copy of what Inarritu has done before (in an attempt to win an audience). I felt the same way about Three Burials which is why I have rated it with only 4. This is going to be the first major problem for Arriaga on his own creative path. While unfortunate, it is inevitable: audiences will go in expecting the same intense fair Innaritu has been giving them and will see a more tame version of that. Luckily, the wonderful production values and gorgeous cinematography by veteran Robert Elswit and John Toll, tacked on with a beautiful soundtrack, send the film flying.

With a number of events occurring through the story, you are never left bored. Piecing together the puzzle isn't really as difficult as it may seem and makes it more entertaining. For Babel it was all about figuring out which story was in what time period. In The Burning Plain it's about who is who and how time has taken it's toll on the characters, which makes it much more interesting in a more creative way. This is where direction suffers as it is obvious Guillermo Arriaga was more focused on the story than he was his actors, but it all falls together without disrupting anything. Hopefully the creative split will allow audiences to realize there is a large difference between directors and Arriaga and Innaritu are no exception.

Guillermo Arriaga Does Again
2009-08-30 - Charlize Theron has amassed quite a body of impressive independent film work. Here is "The Burning Plain" with the master of time shift story telling Guillermo Arriaga ("21 Grams") at the helm. He does such a great job of seamlessly putting together parallel stories. But I was caught off guard with the big reveal at 1:30 mark . . . about 15 minutes before ending. It was a very neat wrap up. Theron and Kim Bassinger are terrific in this edgy romantic mystery.