A courtroom drama nit-picking over the small print of a funeral home’s legal agreements: The Burial probably has no right to be as crisply funny and boisterously entertaining as it is. Loosely based on a true story, this rabble-rousing examination of the racism hard-wired into America’s multibillion dollar “death care” industry is driven by the friendship of two men, one Black, one white. But this impressive second feature from Maggie Betts (Novitiate) neatly sidesteps Green Book-style platitudes, instead balancing robust crowd-pleasing credentials against an acute dissection of the economics of racial politics.
Craggy, deflated in both manner and appearance, Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) is about to lose his funeral business to a ruthless multinational. Litigation specialist Willie E Gary (a terrific Jamie Foxx, giving a performance that registers on the Richter scale) knows nothing about contract law, but agrees to act as Jeremiah’s attorney anyway. The bond between Willie and Jeremiah is built on shared values – family, fairness, basic decency – and a fondness for the music of early 90s R&B outfit Tony! Toni! Toné!. A rousing good time of a movie.
In cinemas now/ on Amazon Prime Video from 13 October
