Lack of good storyline.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

In the aftermath of "The Hours" (2002), how women experience time, "The Burning Plain" (2008) directed by original writer and first-time director Guillermo Arriaga breaks under the weight of a director's responsibility. Giving the full independent package of a 20 Million U.S. Dollar production budget by producers Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes and professional cast going out from Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger over Joaquim de Almeida to an early motion picture participation of Jennifer Lawrence to create a story of a struggling woman's life through the ages from 18 to 50 years.Director Guillermo Arriaga, unable to create any suspense in any given scene of full frontal character conflicts; Actress Charlize Theron strives through the scenes uninspired to sedated, just dwelling from early hard knock life experiences, at no moment challenged by the director to break through with her character of Sylvia to step on uncharted territory of psychological terror after a girl's life changing mother-murdering incident.The well-written screen-story gets hardly translated to screen, lingering in too slow, if not to say insufficient shot pacing, wasting Robert Elswit's talents as Cinematographer. Director Guillermo Arriaga, seemingly uncomfortable in the director's chair, focuses on scenes on female self-mutilation and further draining from his characters' obsessions and sex addictions. The visuals, embedded in an U.S. Mexican Border Town and cold steel urban area cliché, misses surprises to release the spectator's running low interest in the female fates.Positively to mention is the on-screen chemistry of Kim Basinger & Joaquim de Almeida, who left on their own to create a heart-breaking, doomed to fail love story. Actress Jennifer Lawrence, in her Pre- "Winter Bone" (2010) days, seems to be overwhelmed, undirected by Guillermo Arriaga and close to lost by her on-screen actions in the character of Mariana of murdering mother and her lover in a trailer gas explosion.When the incident scene happens at running time marker 01h21mins00sec (PAL version), Director Guillerma Arriaga missed out to build an accelerating sequence with Editor Craig Wood to make an emotional impact for an arresting conclusion of woman's life wasted. Probably solution might have been to rearrange the editorial's structure entirely with taking the incident into the film's opening, which would have brought Jennifer Lawrence arguably a breakthrough performance under improved directions to carry an entire picture of her shoulders at an minor age; A fact that needed to mature another two years until her breakthrough at Sundance Film Festival 2010 with her leading role in "Winter's Bone".In conclusion, "The Burning Plain" had the ingredients to be a solid psychological drama. But through lack of thriller elements, with a cast put into breathtaking tension mode and accelerated action beats, lets the film vanish into mediocrity.

Guillermo Arriaga's The Burning Plain. Desolate. Heartbreaking. Gorgeously shot. Arriaga is the writer of 21 Grams, Babel and Amorros Perros. Here he gets the chance to direct his own project, and his creative vision sparks in a tale of several women separated by time and distance, but connected by romantic tragedy. The story shows in sweeping, searing strokes how the decisions of one generation and the resulting consequences can bleed out into the next generation, and the next, forging a heart wrenching chain of events that are often difficult to undo, or reconcile with. Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron are remarkable in the two central roles. Jennifer Lawrence displays an igniting spark of the fiery talent we see today. Underrated genre favourite Joaquim De Almeida gets a chance to play against his villain type as a sympathetic, affectionate man, and Brett Cullen is quietly devastating in a supporting role. This film wrestles with ideas of running from your past, fate and the forces of nature bringing people's paths together despite the ensuing tragedy. It's an intriguing, haunting, low key yet inwardly tumultuous piece.

Who in the world could picture either Charlize Theron or Kim Bassinger being involved with the scruffy-looking men they are cast opposite in this horrible film? John Corbett as a cook? It's laughable. This is the worst example of casting I've ever seen. Whatever possessed these acclaimed actors and actresses to get involved in this contrived soap opera? Don't waste your time on this tripe. It's just awful to watch it. The plot and situations are stilted and forced. Kim Bassinger making love to a grizzled old guy in a single-wide squalid trailer? It's just unbelievable to think that this film was actually produced and released.

I like the fact as other reviewers have written that "Kim Basinger's acting is flat". Any more exciting than what she did will spoil the somber almost stoic tone of the film. I think normal people cheating on their family will just act how she did it.There is definitely a lot of skin here and sex scenes but it is really done to bring out emotion. Theron's Sylvia's apathy and guilt, Basinger's Gina's urgency and even more so Lawrence's Marianna's anger, guilt and true love.The time/space chop is really effective and I did not think was overdone. I did not know initially that is what filmed in New Mexico until I recognized the familiar mountains around Las Cruces and the New Mexico "swamp" cooler air conditioning units.Because of the constraints of the movie and budget, we are left with many questions about the back stories of the relationships with other characters.All the actors are really great and I have to agree about Ia. Very talented. As expected the big awards institution did not even consider this. Their loss.I have now more respect for Charlize Theron. She did carry more than half the film. It is a sad film but had a fulfilling resolution in the end.