Review of "The Burning Plain," opening Sept. 25 at Cinema 21

The Burning Plain
Director: Guillermo Arriaga
With: Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Joaquim de Almeida, Jennifer Lawrence, J.D. Pardo, Jose Maria Yazpik, Tessa Ia

At first, I thought this would be another Crash, unconnected lives intersecting in a contrived and coincidental way.   But, we begin to see that some of these people are at different ages, rather than different people.  Not to give too much away, of course.  But, the actors do not resemble older or younger versions of themselves, and I’m not sure if this was on purpose.
Sylvia (Theron) is an unhappy and promiscuous restaurant hostess in an unnamed Portland.  It won’t matter elsewhere, but the geography of Portland is so misrepresented that I’m sure it had some effect on my judgment.  Sorry, I guess.
Sylvia is being stalked by a Mexican man (Yapzik) and a little girl (Ia).  We don’t learn why for a while.  Meanwhile, we see a married woman carrying on an affair with a married man, and a tragedy resulting that destroys both families with horror and loathing.
As the film unfolds, the story works itself out and the pieces come together.  Whether you like this movie or not will depend on whether you care about these people.  It did not arouse much sympathy in me.  Everyone is unpleasant and selfish to a degree, some badly so.
And, the whole thing has a TV-movie, soap opera feel to it.  We are supposed to be moved by great emotion and tragic circumstances, but it seemed a bit too schmaltzy to me.
I respect Theron as an actor, and she has taken chances in her career, but this one probably looked better on the page than it plays out on the screen.
C-