Burning (2018)
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Burning Movie Review
Burning is a 2018 South Korean mystery drama film directed by Lee Chang-dong and starring Yoo Ah-in. The movie provides a very moody cinematic experience.
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“Do you know Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert, Africa?
It is said that Bushmen have two types of hungry people.
Little hungry and great hungry.
Little hungry people are physically hungry.
The great hungry is a person who is hungry for survival.
Why do we live, What is the significance of living?
People who are always looking for these answers.
This kind of person is really hungry“
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The plot is very interesting. Basically, a man and a woman who know each other from childhood meet and start a relationship and hanging out, but she brings another man into the picture and the protagonist starts suspecting that this man is a serial killer. The flick succeeds at being a mystery because it’s exceedingly mysterious in its story and approach at telling it. It’s very ambiguous at times while mostly being intriguing despite being so slow.
Yes, Burning is so slow which is both its strength and its weakness. It’s sophisticated and intriguingly plotted and atmospheric, but it also can be too slow to bear at times. Mostly I was engaged and even intrigued, but I definitely found the film’s runtime to be way too long and unnecessary in some scenes. The dialogue is amazing though and some conversations about the meaning of life are wonderful.
Yoo Ah-in gave a very strong performance and although his character isn’t really likable, he’s at least quite grounded in reality. Steven Yeun’s villain is great and mysterious of course, but despite a couple of fine moments that she has and Jeon Jong-seo is truly excellent for what is the very first role for her, Shin Hae-mi is unfortunately overly sexualized as a character and the movie’s treatment of women is definitely very problematic and even painful at times. Maybe it’s essential for this type of plot, but it still made for an unlikable movie.
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Burning is very well directed by Lee Chang-dong, exceptionally well even as his direction is felt throughout the runtime for sure. It’s confident and very professional. The score is not as memorable, but the cinematography is terrific as the film features some quite remarkable shots and imagery. I liked the beginning and ending the best whereas the middle parts were a bit too slow for me. The runtime is overlong, but at least the atmosphere and the overall feel of the movie is rather unique leading to one of the more original foreign outings of the year.
Burning’s treatment of women is troublesome to say the least and it is definitely a very slow watch. However, it’s also a very mysterious film, very well plotted and particularly well acted and directed. It features a very memorable beginning and ending while being consistently fueled by terrific dialogue and a very unique and intriguing atmosphere.
