Burning (2018)
(Beoning)
Country: KOR/JAP
Technical: col/2.35:1 148m
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo
Synopsis:
Reconnecting with a childhood acquaintance in Seoul, a farmer's son and wannabe writer is asked to look after her cat while she is abroad on a trip. She returns in the company of a materially successful, self-assured older man, who confides that his secret hobby is burning down greenhouses. A mute resentment, jealousy - and, later, suspicion - build in the mind of the confused young man.
Review:
Chang-dong uses his elliptical, at times contradictory, narrative to examine the social issues of a large, young urban unemployed and a female population expected to maintain certain standards of presentability, while both are confronted with the lure of apparently attainable wealth. Literary clues such as The Great Gatsby ('Where does his money come from?') and William Faulkner are dropped in, and the protagonist's own literary venture only seems to have got off the ground as he conceives his final grim act of self-assertion. A character disappears and the cat (re)appears - no wonder the hero is confused. Most viewers will, alas, share his perplexity, which is the point, but at this length patience may begin to fray. The critical fraternity meanwhile fell over one another to praise its powers of 'suggestion'.
(Beoning)
Country: KOR/JAP
Technical: col/2.35:1 148m
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo
Synopsis:
Reconnecting with a childhood acquaintance in Seoul, a farmer's son and wannabe writer is asked to look after her cat while she is abroad on a trip. She returns in the company of a materially successful, self-assured older man, who confides that his secret hobby is burning down greenhouses. A mute resentment, jealousy - and, later, suspicion - build in the mind of the confused young man.
Review:
Chang-dong uses his elliptical, at times contradictory, narrative to examine the social issues of a large, young urban unemployed and a female population expected to maintain certain standards of presentability, while both are confronted with the lure of apparently attainable wealth. Literary clues such as The Great Gatsby ('Where does his money come from?') and William Faulkner are dropped in, and the protagonist's own literary venture only seems to have got off the ground as he conceives his final grim act of self-assertion. A character disappears and the cat (re)appears - no wonder the hero is confused. Most viewers will, alas, share his perplexity, which is the point, but at this length patience may begin to fray. The critical fraternity meanwhile fell over one another to praise its powers of 'suggestion'.
(Beoning)
Country: KOR/JAP
Technical: col/2.35:1 148m
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo
Synopsis:
Reconnecting with a childhood acquaintance in Seoul, a farmer's son and wannabe writer is asked to look after her cat while she is abroad on a trip. She returns in the company of a materially successful, self-assured older man, who confides that his secret hobby is burning down greenhouses. A mute resentment, jealousy - and, later, suspicion - build in the mind of the confused young man.
Review:
Chang-dong uses his elliptical, at times contradictory, narrative to examine the social issues of a large, young urban unemployed and a female population expected to maintain certain standards of presentability, while both are confronted with the lure of apparently attainable wealth. Literary clues such as The Great Gatsby ('Where does his money come from?') and William Faulkner are dropped in, and the protagonist's own literary venture only seems to have got off the ground as he conceives his final grim act of self-assertion. A character disappears and the cat (re)appears - no wonder the hero is confused. Most viewers will, alas, share his perplexity, which is the point, but at this length patience may begin to fray. The critical fraternity meanwhile fell over one another to praise its powers of 'suggestion'.