GRADE: B

Not to be confused with the 1986 film of the same name or the 2007 urban crime drama starring Ray Liotta and LL Cool J, this tension-filled, meditative offering borrows liberally from (or perhaps pays homage to) director Eric Von Stroheim’s silent classic, “Greed” and John Huston’s post-war masterpiece, “The Treasure of Sierra Madre.”

Directed by rookie filmmaker Christian Ford, “Slow Burn” is a crisscrossing tale of avarice and deceit involving a cross-generational search for a family’s reputed fortune in diamonds.

Part art-house character study, part crime actioner, “Slow Burn” is constructed on a prevailing premise—whether you’re searching for something you know is out there or searching for something you simply hope is out there, if you’re forced to look long enough, the nature of your quest begins to change. When that happens, you change along with it, and the lines of distinction begin to blur, making your navigation more difficult.

Those lines blur for a group of initially unrelated characters who eventually wind up questing for the same booty of diamonds. As stories like these would have it, before long their individual and collective maneuvering leads to unforeseen alliances, duplicity and self-sacrifice, the fires that burn brightly under the film’s narrative kettle as things begin to heat up into a slow burn, sometimes steamy and violent.

Although “Slow Burn” boasts a well-known cast, it received only limited theatrical release, but don’t let that stop you because it’s a film well worth seeing. James Spader again impresses, and co-stars Minnie Driver and relative newcomer Josh Brolin acquit themselves well. And with a film that takes place almost entirely outdoors, it helps to have a cinematographer who can make the most of it, as Mark Vincente’s breathtaking images are able to from beginning to end.

In many ways a film that’s greater than the sum of its parts, “Slow Burn” really does add up to something much more than another pop-culture riddled cinematic cliché. True, much of what it has to say about greed and prerogative has been said before (and sometimes more effectively), but its message is certainly one worth repeating, especially in an era where the unchecked pursuit of wealth is increasingly seen as an entitlement.

Authors note: No trailer currently exists for this film, so I’ve included a short montage of clips from some of star James Spader’s other films.

#