Buried

"170,000 sq miles of desert. 90 minutes of oxygen. No way out."

2010 1h 35m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 3,161

Thriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

As an American civilian truck driver working in Iraq, Paul Conroy's convoy is attacked by a group of Iraqi insurgents. Some time later, Paul awakes in a coffin with only a lighter, a cell phone, and his ever-growing anxiety. Faced with a dwindling oxygen supply and a dying battery, he must fight panic, despair, and delirium as he races against time to escape the claustrophobic death trap.

“170,000 sq miles of desert. 90 minutes of oxygen. No way out.”

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Cast

Ryan Reynolds
Paul Conroy
José Luis García Pérez
Jabir (voice)
Robert Paterson
Dan Brenner (voice)
Stephen Tobolowsky
Alan Davenport (voice)
Samantha Mathis
Linda Conroy (voice)
Ivana Miño
Pamela Lutti (voice)
Warner Loughlin
Maryanne Conroy / Donna Mitchell / Rebecca Browning (voice)
Erik Palladino
Special Agent Harris (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Writers: Chris Sparling
Languages: Arabic, English
Countries: Spain, United States of America, France, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.6× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Arabic, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: Spain, United States of America, France, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rodrigo Cortés, shot by Eduard Grau. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Víctor Reyes. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Rodrigo Cortés shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rodrigo Cortés directs. Eduard Grau behind the camera. Víctor Reyes scores. Rodrigo Cortés cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Spain, United States of America, France, United Kingdom. Dialogue in Arabic, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 9.6× over at the box office.
3Released 16 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Arabic, English.
5International production across 4 countries: Spain, United States of America, France, United Kingdom.
6Directed by Rodrigo Cortés, shot by Eduard Grau. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Víctor Reyes. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Rodrigo Cortés shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Ryan Reynolds and José Luis García Pérez and Robert Paterson carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "170,000 sq miles of desert. 90 minutes of oxygen. No way out.".
11IMDB entry: tt1462758 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 21 themes, including "race against time", "panic", "ambush", "underground".

The technical file

Cinematography: Eduard Grau
Original score: Víctor Reyes
Editing: Rodrigo Cortés
Makeup / hair: Mónica Alarcón
Sound: Marc Orts
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,987,650
Box office: $19,152,480
Return: 964% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Buried (2010)

Awards

Gaudí Award for Best Non-Catalan Language Film
Gaudí Award for Best Film Editing

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Rodrigo Cortés

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2013-09-06
★ 7/10
Interesting and entertaining movie getting the maximum from just an actor and a coffin. However, you will feel cheated every now and then when you see how the coffin seems to enlarge and shrink.
SamySam2020-06-03
I really LOVE this movie ! I love films like this and “Entrapped . A Day of Terror” , entirely shooted inside one claustrophobic location :-) only a perfect screenplay can make the film Adrenalinic and not annoying, as of course the set is on few square mq2 !
CinemaSerf2025-01-30
★ 7/10
Despite the fact that there are quite a few plot holes in this quite tautly put together drama, Ryan Reynolds might actually have turned in one of the best performances of his career, here. Perhaps that's because he awakens to find he's been buried in a big wooden box with only an hip flask, torch and his phone. He's been in Iraq driving for an American truck company when it was attacked and he's now the subject of a $5millions ransom demand. Over the next ninety minutes he has to use the phone and his wits to try to track down some phone numbers who can help find his particular hole in the ground. This, bear in mind, is before we all had GPS on our telephones - so it's quite a frantic affair as he begins to realise the dangers of his predicament. There's also quite possibly one of the most obnoxious phone calls I've ever heard between him and his ass-covering personnel director that really did have me shouting "lie, for God's sake" at the screen. This gives Reynolds a chance to ditch his pretty boy image and try to imbue his character with a degree of claustrophobic frenzy from a staring start - and I think he does it quite well. It has a sinister plausibility to it, and as to the denouement - well there's nothing straightforward about that, either. Worth a watch, I'd say.