Burning Man (2011)

70% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
64% want to see it
(175 ratings)

An English chef with a chic restaurant on Bondi Beach trying to put his life and his relationship with his son back on track while surrounded by women.

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.
Directed By: Jonathan Teplitzky
Written By: Jonathan Teplitzky
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International, Comedy

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Critic Reviews

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter
The extremity of the film's slice-and-dice approach is invigorating at the outset but may also prompt viewers to suspect they're being challenged for no good reason.
Blake Howard, 2UE That Movie Show
It's poetic, moving, powerful drama with the distinct directorial control of an artist being announced.
Fiona Williams, sbs.com.au
Teplitzky replaces meaningful silences and emotive strings with frenetic energy and alternate scene takes...
Matthew Pejkovic, Matt's Movie Reviews
Fuelled by confident direction and awe inspiring performances, Burning Man is an uncompromising exploration of how one man's grief leads him on a destructive and soul searching path to acceptance.
Tom Clift, Moviedex
As a complete package, Burning Man is very good, but a little too pristine to be great.
Jason Di Rosso, MovieTime, ABC Radio National
The emotional payoff is undermined by the structural play -- a strategy that distracts rather than enhances.
Julie Rigg, MovieTime, ABC Radio National
If this film was a car, I'd say it was over-engineered. The jangling mosaic goes on so long we lose sympathy with the main character.
Luke Buckmaster, Crikey
a pot of revved-up and risqué drama with a soulful core simmering beneath the bombast.
Sarah Ward, Trespass
Teplitzky's intimate, intricate connection to his content is key to the success of this powerful and poignant portrait.
Clem Bastow, The Vine
Teplitzky's expressionist handling of all those wonderful contradictions is what makes Burning Man a resounding triumph.
Joshua Blackman, FILMINK (Australia)
It's an interesting but failed experiment.
Tom Ryan, The Age (Australia)
Unfortunately, the answers to these questions turn out to be less involving than Teplitzky's methods in asking them.
Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun (Australia)
The resounding positive of Burning Man is the first-class performance of Goode in the lead role, which truly leaves a lasting mark whenever the film takes its biggest risks.
Matthew Toomey, ABC Radio Brisbane
Matthew Goode delivers a wonderful performance as Tom. He's a character that you want to sympathise with but he makes it difficult with some of his not-so-likeable outbursts.
Ed Gibbs, The Sun Herald
A highly imaginative, deeply moving and incredibly brave film, boosted by a lead performance so intense, you'd swear the man's from another planet.
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
Oddly, for all its deep emotional touchstones and the profoundly sad plot, the film doesn't ignite the fires of our emotions
Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile
This is a powerful and moody film that delves into the A to Z of life, exploring love, death, sex, parenthood, frustration and acceptance
Margaret Pomeranz, At the Movies (Australia)
It packs such an emotional wallop this film.
David Stratton, At the Movies (Australia)
A film that will shock you with its honesty and its bravery. I can't wait to see it again.
Clint Morris, Moviehole
A gleaming magnum opus that stimulates the mind and massages the soul