The first feature directed by Chanya Button, as well as the first feature written by Charlie Covell, Burn Burn Burn is an enjoyable enough comedy drama that also feels a bit like a film made by committee. It is the kind of low-budget indie that makes good use of some familiar faces in canny cameos, forces main characters to “pick at scabs”, and ends with only a passing nod to something that feels like proper resolution. Because life is never properly resolved, of course.
Laura Carmichael and Chloe Pirrie play Seph and Alex, two friends who have been tasked with scattering the ashes of another friend, Dan (Jack Farthing). This involves a road trip, ashes contained in a tupperware box, and various video clips that Dan has recorded to be played at the various locations. Those video clips, and the travel, all prompt Seph and Alex to be more honest with one another, and more honest with themselves.
This is enjoyable enough, and Carmichael and Pirrie are decent leads, but it’s also very similar to approximately one thousand other movies I could direct you to, whether they are quirky road movies or quirky comedy dramas about dealing with the loss of a loved one. Or even quirky movies about the ups and downs you go through in a close friendship.
Button directs competently, making good use of the few main locations and managing to avoid the car scenes feeling too claustrophobic. Nothing can really lift Covell’s script, which will give even most casual film fans a feeling of deja vu, but there are enough distractions scattered here and there to try and make things more entertaining.
Alice Lowe is one winning distraction, stealing the film with her minute or two of screentime. Julian Rhind-Tutt is another, delivering a performance that is a perfect combination of creepy and, well . . . also creepy, but with the same creepy vibe as the sideways-staring cuddly toy you used to have as a bedside companion when you were a child. It was always there for you, and the real creepiness only becomes more obvious when you take a step back from it.
There’s nothing here to make anyone very angry, but there’s also nothing here to make anyone truly delighted. It is all decidedly okay, but decidedly okay just isn’t good enough when you have so many other films available to choose from, and I suspect that this is destined to be forgotten (if anyone still remembers it today).
4/10
If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
No comments:
Post a Comment