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Amos Lassen wrote on 03/02/2011:

“BURNING PALMS”
A Look At Human Nature
Amos Lassen
Chris Landon (yes, the son of Michael Landon) makes his directorial debut with “Burning Palms”, a dark and well-made look at human nature. He also wrote the screenplay. The movie consists of five separate stories and each pushed the limits of what we often refer to as “taste”. There is a “what if” quality to each of the stories.

“The Green-Eyed Monster” tells the story of Dedra (Rosamund Pike) who senses that her finacee, Dennis, (Dylan McDermott) is having an affair with his fifteen year old daughter (Emily Meade). In “The Little Piggy”, Ginny (Jamie Chung) has a nasty smell on her finger that she can’t seem to wash away and it comes from doing what her boyfriend asked her to do to him while having sex. “Buyer’s Remorse” is about a pair of gay men (Anson Mount and Peter Macdissi) who have adopted an African daughter and they cannot understand her while “Kangaroo Court” watches a bunch of kids who set up a court and try their maid (Paz Vega) who discovers that her dead child’s umbilical cord has disappeared. “Maneater” is about the aftermath of a rape and the victim (Zoe Saldana) who goes after her attacker (Nick Stahl) so that he can be her boyfriend.

Here is a film that tries very hard to offend and shock. Each actor works very hard and each delivers a credible performance and I loved the way the “A-List” gay men have to deal with the reality of Africa in their home. They have a West Hollywood lifestyle where Blacks “know their place”. This is obviously a satire of gays who are in the upper class and gay life seems to go hand in hand with materialism. The child seems to be only an accessory to their life (like a Vuitton suitcase). The child will not speak and pretends to be hunting like the tribesman of Africa. They guys ultimately set her free in a park so that you can hunt on her own and they go and get a French Poodle instead.

Landon searches for humor and uses drugs, suicides and racism as a way to achieve it but it doesn’t always work. In fact I found the movie to be quite bitter in parts. What we do see is the desperation and fragility that exists in human life.