'Burning' is discursive, unsettling
The film is the South Korean entry for the Oscar for best foreign-language film.
Yoo Ah-in stars in 'Burning.'
Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment
鈥淏urning,鈥� directed by Lee Chang-dong, is a discursive, unsettling movie that is all the more so for being essentially undefinable. (It鈥檚 the South Korean entry for the Oscar for best聽foreign-language film.) Is it a murder mystery, a study of class conflict, a political allegory, a love story, a fantasia? In a sense, it is all of these things, all at once.
Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) has a degree in creative writing and makes ends meet working as a delivery boy. A chance encounter with Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), a former grade school classmate he once teased for being 鈥渦gly鈥� but is now far from it, leads to a casual romance until she embarks on a trip to Africa. She asks Jong-su to look after her cat in her apartment, which he dutifully attempts, except the cat is nowhere to be seen. This minor mystery is a harbinger of things to come.
When Hae-mi returns, she is accompanied by Ben (Steven Yeun), a rich slickster with an indeterminate source of wealth. He boasts he鈥檚 never cried in his life. Ben鈥檚 appearance transforms the scenario into a kind of romantic triangle; Hae-mi鈥檚 subsequent disappearance morphs the film into something stranger.
Lee is adapting a short story, 鈥淏arn Burning,鈥� by Haruki Murakami, which, of course, echoes William Faulkner鈥檚 story of the same name, and he also layers in references to such films as 鈥淰ertigo鈥� and 鈥淟鈥橝vventura.鈥� Ben is clearly a Jay Gatsby figure. With all these obvious cultural points of reference, 鈥淏urning鈥� is nevertheless very much its own creature. It builds slowly, and, at almost 2-1/2 hours, it occasionally drags. But it鈥檚 worth the time. This is a very knowing movie about the ultimate unknowability of people. Grade:聽B+ (This movie is not rated.)