Burning Palms (film)
Burning Palms is a 2010 American satirical thriller film written and directed by Christopher Landon (in his feature directorial debut) based on Los Angeles stereotypes told through five intertwining storylines.[3] Media outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter and Digital Spy reported that the ensemble-driven indie feature will star Shannen Doherty and Dylan McDermott as well as Zoe Saldana, Lake Bell, Nick Stahl, Paz Vega, Adriana Barraza, Colleen Camp, Jamie Chung, Robert Hoffman, Peter Macdissi, Emily Meade, Anson Mount, Rosamund Pike, Austin Williams, Chandler George Brown, and Tom Wright.Writing of the film: Landon's deeply cynical method is to conjure up the most aberrant corners of humanity and then wallow around in his self-created muck looking to scavenge what little scraps of humor he can find.[6]Gabe Callahan, of Poptimal.com, pointed out his theories as to why the film was such a disappointment: Burning Palms has a lack of focus climatically as each story limps to their anti-climatic reveals.… For Landon’s directorial debut, Burning Palms is a movie that threatens to leave no taboo unexplored but the film seemed scared and hesitant of its own subject matter, and never takes the plunge into the deep end of dark and satirical film-making.[7]Peter Debruge also denounced the film in Variety: The most shocking thing about attention-seeking satire Burning Palms isn't its irreverent treatment of incest, shame, same-sex parenting and rape, but rather how little impact any of these elements have on the audience.Making his directorial debut, screenwriter Christopher B. Landon struggles so mightily to offend that he forgets to supply a rooting interest in his characters.