X
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 2 h 6 m
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 2 h 6 m
Summary When a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice. Inspired by true events.
Directed By: Maggie Betts
Written By: Doug Wright, Jonathan Harr, Maggie Betts
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 2 h 6 m
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 2 h 6 m
The Burial
74
6.7
Where to Watch
Summary When a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice. Inspired by true events.
Directed By: Maggie Betts
Written By: Doug Wright, Jonathan Harr, Maggie Betts
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
74
87% Positive
20 Reviews
20 Reviews
13% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
74
87% Positive
20 Reviews
20 Reviews
13% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The brisk rhythms and energy of the storytelling ensure that the pace rarely flags, and that every frame of this film about the business of death is bursting with life.
The film is better couch fare than most of what we will see at any time of year.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 User Ratings
6.7
70% Positive
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
27% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
3% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 33 User Ratings
6.7
70% Positive
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
27% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
3% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Beyond being inspired by real events, what makes this courtroom drama sustainable are the performances of Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones; something they both owed for a long time. One of the best streaming options.
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A satisfying David vs. Goliath tale of justice, The Burial is the type of film you’d watch for the history lesson, stay for the entertainment, and return to see a wonderful cast let loose in all the best ways imaginable.
In The Burial, every character gets a chance to shine, but not like in a “Star Trek” movie, where Sulu gets his moment and then Chekov. Rather, it all feels natural and organic. There’s something almost philosophical in a directorial point of view that understands that supporting and featured players are just as human as the main characters.
The movie may ping between social drama and IRL courtroom saga. Whenever Foxx struts and frets — and bellows, coos, rages, and waltzes — his two hours upon this stage, you realize that it may simply work best as a star vehicle.
Director Maggie Betts never lets herself be saddled by historical events in crafting a narrative filled with empathy, humor and life.
This flashy legal melodrama is fitfully stirring but too flabby to deliver the walloping blow that it needs.
IN A NUTSHELL:
The David versus Goliath story is loosely based on a 1999 case that was featured in an article in The New Yorker written by Jonathan Harr. It’s about a lawyer who helps a funeral homeowner save his family business from a corporate behemoth, exposing a complex web of race, power, and injustice.
The film was written and directed by Maggie Betts, with writing help from Doug Wright and Jonathan Harr.
THINGS I LIKED:
The cast is fantastic and features Academy Award winners Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx. They do not disappoint. They never do.
The rest of the talented cast includes Jurnee Smollet, Mamoudou Athie, Pamela Reed, Bill Camp, Alan Ruck, and Amanda Warren.
Fans of John Grisham novels will get a kick out of this courtroom drama.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to thrilled audiences.
The story is about Jeremiah Joseph who stood up to the corrupt Loewen Group.
Jamie Foxx’s character, Willie E. Gary, was a flamboyant attorney who was actually featured on the popular TV show “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous.” He went on to fight other big corporations and earned the nickname “The Giant Killer.”
Happily, there is some subtle humor throughout the drama. In fact, it’s one of the highlights of the film.
The movie has heart and surprising insights.
The musical score by composer Michael Abels provides the perfect mood for each scene.
Keep watching during the final rolling credits to see the end notes on what happened to all of the people in real life after the events shown in the movie.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
If you don’t like courtroom dramas, this movie is probably not for you.
It’s a bit slow-moving.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Kids will be extremely bored in this “talking movie”
Talk of the Klu Klux Klan
Some profanity
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Mesmo com Tomy Lee Jones indo bem e Jamie Fox brilhando no papel, confesso que tenho uma queda pela composição do jovem Mamoudou Athie, que aqui faz o advogado Jr. Esperava vê-lo de forma mais imponente, até porque é ele que vê a chance de criar o litígio, esforçando-se para que o caso caia nas mãos do advogado negro performista.
Adotando sempre um tom acima da média, o diretor vai nos conduzindo a uma trama que apenas é baseada em fatos reais, pois há de se duvidar que todo aquele circo ocorrera daquela forma, mas ainda assim uma história poderosa, mas que deixa sua marca contemporânea ao não se desvencilhar da linguagem identitária própria de nosso tempo. Não que isso seja um defeito, ao contrário, mas faltou depurar o diálogo.
No entanto, o filme funciona pois carrega consigo esse estado meio cômico e bizarro da situação, e muito por conta da dupla veterana que entrega uma composição digna para seus personagens. Destaque também para a advogada negra da empresa ré, que também consegue se desvencilhar do maniqueísmo próprio e consegue entregar falas absolutamente densas e interessantes.
Ainda não sei o que causou certo desbalanceamento, pois o filme vai se tornando uma película d tribunal, e há altos e baixos muito nítidos, ora com discursos geniais e ora com diálogos meio atrapalhados, como se o roteiro, para dar o sentimento de derrota ou desvantagem em certo argumento, optasse por quase ridicularizá-los, não confiando em demasia na inteligência do público. Se equilibrasse melhor isso, seria um filme ainda melhor.
A cena inicial em que apresenta o advogado Willie Gary é incrível, e aqui destaco o quanto o Foxx tem realmente time para a eloquência, e isso faz muita diferença. É uma pena que, nos momentos em que ele não se sai bem, a produção o distrate, como dito. Não precisava disso. Havia dois ótimos interlocutores ali, que se sairiam muito bem independentemente do desmérito de um deles. Não à toa o cumprimento dos advogados na cena final os coroa como grandes personagens do filme.
Saber que é uma história real tem seu charme, mas principalmente, ver uma história que tem o racismo como cerne e trazendo para um lugar pouco debatido, como a especulação funerária, faz a experiência soar bastante proveitosa, com um saldo altamente positivo.
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Tommy Lee Jones plays the owner of a small group of funeral homes in Mississippi. When a buyout deal with a large conglomerate is stalled, he decides to sue and contacts a flashy lawyer to take the case (Jamie Foxx). This is based on a true story about a small business going up against seemingly impossible odds and even though this attorney has never lost a case, this might be his first. Foxx embraces the grandiloquent style of a Black minister in his communications with the jury and adds a comic element with his bold style. Jones effectively captures the determined grit of a respectable businessman. The contrast between their personalities and their subsequent chemistry forms the core of the film. Even though the story hits the predictable courtroom genre plot points, their performances give the film its appeal
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The film depends on stereotypes of good (Jones) and evil (the corporate funeral executive). The courtroom drama is unrealistic (no jury selection, attorneys allowed to make long speeches), and the self-incrimination of the corporate funeral executive smacks of Jack Nicholson's performance in A Few Good Men. Many scenes about Jamie Foxx's family life are forced. And the miracle finish was entirely predictable.
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(Mauro Lanari)
The 1st half is reminiscent of the commercial with the African American: "Thanks to us you can realize your American dream" (****/watch?v=U3kRuNeRTb8). The 2nd half is a courtroom docudrama against a multinational, distributed by one of the most powerful multinationals on the planet that on March 17, 2022 acquired MGM, the film's producer. Are we at "moviewashing" of "wild capitalism" (cit.)?
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Production Company
Amazon Studios,
Bobby Shriver,
Double Nickel Entertainment,
Foxxhole Productions,
Maven Screen Media
Release Date Oct 6, 2023
Duration 2 h 6 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline Never Settle
Awards
Image Awards (NAACP)
• 2 Nominations
Black Reel Awards
• 2 Nominations
Palm Springs International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
