''Burn Burn Burn'' is a 2015 British

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

, the directorial debut of Chanya Button. The film is a coming-of-age tale, written by Charlie Covell and inspired by the

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

novel ''

On the Road ''On the Road'' is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagoni ...

'' published in 1957. The film had its World premiere at the BFI

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

2015.

Plot

The plot follows the story of two women, Seph ( Laura Carmichael) and Alex (

Chloe Pirrie Chloe Pirrie (born 25 August 1987) is a Scottish actress. Her most notable performance was in the film ''Shell'' (2012). Other credits include '' The Game'' (2014), and ''An Inspector Calls'' (2015), '' War & Peace'' (2016), ''Youth'' (2015), ' ...

), taking a road trip to follow the instructions of their close friend Dan, who has died and given them instructions where to scatter his ashes. The ashes (stored in tupperware in the glove compartment) keep diminishing in quantity as the trip progresses.

Cast

Reception

Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...

described the film as "a sort of

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...

mashup of ''

Laughter in Paradise ''Laughter in Paradise'' is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Mario Zampi, starring Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, George Cole, and Guy Middleton. It was written by Jack Davies and Michael Pertwee. The film was remade as '' Some Will, S ...

'' and '' Last Orders''." Bradshaw notes that, "It's not the most original premise, but it's very nicely acted by Carmichael and Pirrie (who was the lead in Scott Graham’s 2012 movie ''Shell''). There are some great cameos from Julian Rhind-Tutt and Alison Steadman, and some startling moments, such as the surreal scene in which Alex has to play the crucified Christ in an am-dram production of the ''Passion'', and makes a personal confession from the cross". ''

'' critic, Wendy Ide added, "The approach is a blend of comedy of discomfort – a brilliant cameo by Julian Rhind-Tutt is mortifyingly funny – and sober reflection on lives that have reached a turning point. It's not wholly original, but ''Burn Burn Burn'' is nicely acted and emotionally authentic. Button shows real promise as a director". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on reviews from 12 critics.

Awards

The film won the Grand Prix at

Odesa International Film Festival The Odesa International Film Festival () is an annual film festival held in the middle of July in Odesa. Since 2016 the festival program has consisted of three parts: the International competition, National competition and European Documentary ...

in Ukraine in 2016.

References

External links

* 2015 films 2015 black comedy films Films set in England British black comedy films Films about death 2010s English-language films 2010s British films English-language black comedy films {{2010s-UK-comedy-film-stub