Burning (Korean Language) (2018)

Review

148min

Genre:       Crime, Drama, Mystery

Director:    Lee Chang-dong

Cast:         Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo…and more

Writers:     Jungmi Oh, Lee Chang-dong and Haruki Murakami

-Synopsis-

A lonely young Korean man’s childhood friendship is rekindled when he’s reunited with a former neighbour, only to have his world uprooted when a successful and mysterious man— with his own hidden past and troubling predilections—enters the picture to create an unconventional love triangle, in this tense and reflective portrait of modern South Korean youth from the director of ‘Secret Sunshine’ and ‘Poetry’.

Having carved out a place for himself in the 21st century emergence of South Korean cinema as a global force, and making a splash on the European film festival circuit through reflections of tragedy and empathy in his last three contemporary human dramas, director Lee Chang-dong returns after a decade’s absence in moody mystery style—adapting  Haruki Murakami’s Japanese short story into a tense mediation on the pressures of youth in modern South Korea, while delivering a restrained and unsettling thriller which keeps you guessing from start to finish.

Yoo Ah-in stars as melancholy twenty-something odd-jobber from rural  Paju ‘Lee Jong-su’, who is unexpectedly reunited with his quirky childhood friend and neighbour ‘Shin Hae-mi’ (Jeon Jong-seo), as they rekindle their friendship and develop a closer bond before her impending travels. But when she returns from her trip with new enigmatic friend ‘Ben’ (Steven Yeun)—a wealthy and aloof man with potential pyromanical tendencies—Lee Jong-su struggles to decipher his place in a puzzling relationship triangle, and unravel the sinister conundrum which lies before him.

Subtlety and restraint are the name of this rather unconventional mystery/thriller game, more weighted towards an atmospheric and unsettling character drama, but while Lee Chang-dong skilfully holds the audience in the palm of his hand and hungry for answers, he never truly answers them. Instead we are steadily drawn into the rather wistful and lonely life of Lee Jong-su, as the director deftly comments on anxiety and suppressed male rage, and the pressures of 21st century life for South Korean youth—while weaving a conundrum with a central ‘did he or didn’t he’ element which hangs heavy in the air.

Not only is ‘Burning’ an expertly choreographed film in terms of narrative intrigue, but it’s also a beautifully crafted one in terms of style, often shot in dusk or dawn-like natural light by cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo (Snowpiercer, The Wailing) to add atmosphere, a sense of foreboding and a hallucinatory quality. Meanwhile the sophisticated soundtrack and score by Mowg combines jazz with an idiosyncratic caper film sound, which becomes progressively darker and more jarring as it mirrors the films narrative.

The film is essentially a three-hander where high drama is rare and never spills over into melodrama, relying on accomplished but restrained performances which hint at the turmoil bubbling under the surface of three characters committed to keeping up appearances. The two young Korean leads deliver nuanced and tone-perfect performances, with Yoo Ah-in proving hugely empathetic as the unassuming and reserved country boy with emotional scars but a discerning eye, while Jeon Jong-seo is equally impressive as the free spirit with her head in the clouds and her own childhood trauma. Meanwhile Korean-American star Steven Yeun returns to his roots to give us a side of him we’ve never seen, as the aloof and enigmatic Ben—the story’s deeply troubling catalyst.

Aside from this film’s unconventional nature and the subtleties of an expertly woven narrative, the true strength of ‘Burning’ lies in the spaces Lee Chang-dong leaves in that narrative, and the spaces between the spaces. The director isn’t concerned with easy answers or convenient resolutions, instead leading the audience down a path without holding their hand, towards a destination which is troubling but morbidly satisfying. As he peppers the story—whose title is largely a metaphor for macabre ‘cleansing’—with enough symbolism to let the viewer project their own meaning, Chang-dong keeps the film largely morally ambiguous, and anchored by a nihilistic streak.

Yet it’s this very unconventional nature which might indeed divide audiences on ‘Burning’, perhaps leaving some underwhelmed by its contemplative and deliberate tone, and looking for a more conventionally packaged and spectacle-rich thriller, or a more direct sleuth-like mystery.

For us though ‘Burning’ is a breath of ominous fresh air when it comes to the mystery/thriller, a finely balanced and expertly executed character piece which raises as many questions as it answers, keeping you engrossed and unsettled throughout—while as a reflection of the latest South Korean generation, it leaves us worried about the future of their socially pressured introspective youth . . . but perversely comforted by the notion that they are as troubled and disconnected as our own.

The Bottom Line…

A restrained, moody and unconventional contemporary South Korean mystery/thriller with socially reflective undertones and a morally ambiguous heart, ‘Burning’ signals an impressive and memorable return from the filmmaking wilderness for Lee Chang-dong, who adds a subtlety to the genre and leaves us asking confronting questions, without feeling the need to overtly answer them.

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