Earlier today I listened to the American Cinematographer Podcast with Eduard Grau, the Director of Photography for the movie Buried. After hearing about how he shot the film, I was intrigued, so this evening I rented the movie on iTunes and gave it a watch. I have to say, it really kept me on the edge of my seat.

The premise of the story is that Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is buried alive in an old pine coffin. He has a few things in the box with him, including a cell phone that he uses to communicate with the outside world and a Zippo-style lighter.

Grau had to be incredibly creative with the shots and lighting throughout the production. He and the director, Rodrigo Cortes, really wanted to vary the scenes as much as possible (there are only so many ways to shoot coffin scenes). The result was very interesting, stylized shots that weren’t to artsy.

Reynolds was really good in the film and I definately found myself sympathizing with his plight. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. Give it a watch when you can.