Film Review: Burn

The debut feature from writer/director, Mike Gan, doesn’t start off on a particularly good note, utilizing one of the most tiring and pointless storytelling tropes. It begins at a point somewhere near the end of the film, showing a pissed off Billy (Josh Hutcherson), and a shaking, terrified gas station employee, Melinda (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), hiding behind a shelf, and pulling out a lighter. Before she even uses it, we cut to earlier that night. Melinda is starting off her shift along with her co-worker, Sheila (Suki Waterhouse).

Once you get over the unnecessary intro, you quickly get a sense of things. Melinda is very awkward, struggles to connect with people, sometimes rubbing them the wrong way, but it isn’t until you see her casually telling a male customer to go pee while she’s still cleaning the restroom or later dipping her finger in hot, freshly made coffee that you realize she isn’t just some introvert, something about her is…off.

Of course, it doesn’t stay a quiet and boring night shift for too long. Billy soon enters the picture, and quickly makes it known to the girls that he intends to rob them, apparently to pay off a biker gang who he owes a debt to. Melinda continues to act strangely by being almost enthusiastically cooperative with Billy’s demands, but things very quickly take a turn.

To get into the details of what happens after the pieces are put in place would be a great disservice because a lot of the fun I had with this movie came out of me sitting in utter bewilderment, not knowing where things were going to go. It’s a fairly unpredictable film, but not in a way that feels too knowing of it or self-satisfied. It simply lays out a fairly simple setup, a gas station robbery, and through the inclusion of one offbeat character, the night proceeds to go to some dark and strange places.

It is all centered on Melinda. We don’t get any scenes of her at home, or much backstory to inform us about who she is, or where she came from, but it’s a testament to the writing and the performance that it builds this fully fleshed out character with a deeply troubled psyche. Within moments and few lines of dialogue, a picture is built in your mind as to who this character is, what her home life is like, and it’s so vivid despite not having a single line of exposition. You just get it, and the effect is almost immediate. Cobham-Hervey has been in a handful of projects in the last few years, none of which I’ve seen, but I did see her for the first time in Hotel Mumbai just a few months back. She’s excellent here, bringing an astonishing balance of vulnerability and uneasiness, which is very compelling to watch, even as you try to figure out what her deal is, and what she is going after.

The other actors are also quite good, but they aren’t the focus, so they don’t have quite as much to chew on. Waterhouse is very solid as the disaffected employee, the kind of person who does what she can so she can get the paycheck, and go home, tired of attracting weirdos because she’s a young woman. Hutcherson taps into a side of him I haven’t seen before. He first appears, and it’s clear he’s playing up the cool, confident criminal vibe, when in reality, he’s far more insecure and unprepared than he lets on. I also liked how the film has you feeling one way about him when it begins, but starts playing around with those feelings as the film goes on.

The film is efficient in both its storytelling and its filmmaking. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, keeping things at just over 80 minutes, and it explores the central character in a way that is satisfying and at times haunting. The single location is effectively used, and it never feels like it stretches beyond its limitations. I like the use of neon lights within the gas station to provide some ambient lighting, and the contrast between that and the fluorescent lights, which gives certain moments an appropriately cold and sterile look. The impressive score by Ceiri Torjussen combines traditional orchestral work with a synth sound in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s another one of those scores you hear in these kinds of thrillers. For a debut feature, it’s strong work.

I wouldn’t say Burn is anything essential, or even that great once it’s all said and done, but it is a rock solid thriller with a compelling character at the center of it driving the action to unexpected places with enough darkly comedic impulses to keep things interesting. The only thing really holding it back is that I don’t see what it’s trying to say about Melinda as a character, or people who might be like her. It simply lets the events unfold without diving further than it needs to, and that’s perfectly fine. Like I said, it’s a good thriller, it’s well made, and the performances are really great, especially from Tilda Cobham-Hervey. It’s the kind of movie you might catch on TV or some streaming service not thinking much of it, but find yourself getting sucked into, and that’s no easy feat. I look forward to seeing what else Mike Gan has in him.