“The Burial” Movie Review by Rafy Mediavilla (@Rmediavilla) #TheBurialMovie #TIFF2023
Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice in this inspirational, triumphant story.
Anyone that reads my reviews or follows me on social media knows that I’m a sucker for movies based on true stories or more importantly more space on Underdog stories, and I have to admit I have zero knowledge of what was the story about before coming into the theater and I have two expectations regarding what was the story all about when I saw the door of Jamie Foxx and Tony Lee Jones I knew I was coming in for a treat that I just couldn’t miss and I’m happy to report that I left the theater smiling and crying completely in love with this amazing story.
Storywise The Burial dives into different topics from judging a book by its cover to greed, humility, understanding each person’s perspectives and points of view and ultimately fighting for what you have fought for all your life. The Burial is It’s a story full of layers from Tommy Lee Jones’s role in Jeremy O’Keefe where we see this humble man this family man trying to save his business from corporate greed to Jamie Foxx’s role of this over-the-top attorney as we see together finally fighting for a common cause the story paints a beautiful but painful picture of how far Corporate America is willing to go to take a small business down and without giving too much away the outcomes of this practice.
Performance-wise without a doubt Jamie Foxx steals the show with its over-the-top portrayal of attorney Willie Gary, But I’m trying to keep a low profile, given his extravagant lifestyle mostly dealing with low-profile cases to see him having to come out of his shell and put his money where his mouth is I’m truly showing up his skills as a lawyer in a case that would make or break any lawyers career. Jamie Foxx did a great job at balancing his comedy tones with the more serious ones something that we have seen from him in the past and an art that he has mastered gracefully. On the other hand, Tommy Lee Jones of this average businessman one thing to save his business and his family added more depth to the performances as his chemistry with Jamie Foxx was uncanny which turned into an emotional Final Act that honestly will have many in tears and I positively made this without entering into spoilers.
From the technical aspects of the movie, I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t price the work of the Wardrobe Department the makeup Department the production design Department as we see them paint the story of two completely different individuals and put the audience in a place where they can see themselves being part of the story at his unfold in the theater. Well yes, they’re not making any groundbreaking changes here I have to give them props in the fact that their attention to detail was so high that they wanted to make sure that whatever was happening around this character beat the story as he was being told.
In the end, “The Burial” is one hell of a story, that everyone should watch at least once not only because of the message behind the story, a message that will resonate with everyone in one way or another but more importantly because of the performances specifically and at what were they performance by one Jamie Foxx.
