''The Burial Society'' is a 2002 is a

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

thriller film written and directed by Nicholas Racz. The film stars Rob LaBelle,

Jan Rubeš Jan Ladislav Rubeš CM (6 June 1920 – 29 June 2009) was a Czech-Canadian bass opera singer and actor. Life and career Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, to Ružena (née Kellnerová) and Jan Rubeš. Not long after World War II, ...

Allan Rich Benjamin Norman Schultz (February 8, 1926 – August 22, 2020), known professionally as Allan Rich, was an American character actor. Career Rich began his acting career when he was nine years old. He appeared in the Broadway productions ''I'll ...

Bill Meilen Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies and television shows, and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Cassel first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering in ...

, and

David Paymer David Emmanuel Paymer (born August 30, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, and television director. He has been in films such as '' Mr. Saturday Night'', ''Quiz Show'', ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'', '' City Slickers'', ''Crazy People'', '' ...

. The film follows a lonely, depressed Jewish man who becomes involved in the mafia.

Plot

''The Burial Society'' tells the story of Sheldon Kasner, whose existence has recently turned to one of quiet anxiety. His workload is mounting as his reimbursement for it continues to diminish, and Sheldon justifiably falls into a deep depression. Despite being a highly unlikely candidate for organized crime, he is drawn into a complicit

money-laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

scam that doesn't run as planned. With a two-million-dollar debt on his hands, Sheldon devises a complicated plan: staging his own death with the help of the Chevrah Kadisha, or the "Burial Society," a mysterious group of devout Jewish men who have dedicated themselves to preparing dead bodies for their final resting place. Unbeknownst to Sheldon, the Burial Society sees the incompetent businessman as the only hope for the continued existence of their tradition. As they initiate him into their peculiar, ritualistic world, Sheldon believes his life is leisurely getting back on track; however, the men of the Burial Society may have something else in mind for him.

Reception

Critical reception

The Burial Society got mediocre reviews when it was released in the US in 2004. The film has a score of 53 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

based on reviews from 5 critics. The film has a 50% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 16 reviews.

Awards

The film won the award for Best Production Design in a Feature Length Drama for James Hazell at the 2003

Leo Awards The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...

. It was also nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Male Lead Performance, Best Musical Score, Best Program, and Best Screenplay. In addition to this the film won Best Film at the 2004 Louisville Jewish Film Festival; Best Cinematography and Best Production Design at the Milan International Film Festival; and Best Canadian Screenplay at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

. The film also won awards from the

New Orleans Film Festival The New Orleans Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the nonprofit organization New Orleans Film Society, a film society founded in 1989. The festival has been held since the society's inception. The festival takes place in mid-Oc ...

and Nanaimo inFEST Film Festival.

Cast and crew

References

External links

* * *
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burial Society, The 2002 films 2002 thriller films English-language Canadian films 2000s English-language films American neo-noir films American detective films Canadian thriller films 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films