Em Chamas (2018)

Masterpieces that enchant and amaze.

Class differences and deep obsession take center stage in Lee Chang-dong's dense Burning. One of 2018's masterpieces that is both shocking and fascinating.

"Everything is very uncertain and that is exactly what is so reassuring". That's what the character Tootiki said in the book Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, one of the most well-known Moomin books. And that phrase can absolutely be applied to Lee Chang-dong's film Burning with the slight change that it is not soothing but rather "magical".

When the Korean director returns to the big screen for the first time in 8 years after the fantastic Poetry, he has based the story on Haruki Murakami's short story Elephant Vanishes, but the film stands entirely on its own in the surprising plot.

In the beginning, we get to meet Jong-soo (Yoo Ah-in), a young man with a violent father who has to take care of their farm. Jong-soo himself is more interested in writing, but is hindered by his economic worker background. One day he runs into his childhood friend Hae-mi (Jun Jong-seo). They start hanging out and Jong-soo quickly falls in love with her, but when she goes to Africa for two weeks, things change.

When Hae-mi comes home, she has met Ben (Steven Yeun from The Walking Dead), a rich and well-to-do young man who lives in a lavish apartment and drives an expensive car. The trio begins to hang out, but after a long evening outside Jong-soo's house, unexpected and fiery desires are revealed and the plot suddenly takes a completely unexpected turn that makes Burning a fascinating mystery.

Lee works as usual with long takes, a 10-minute dance at a sunset is one of the closest visual poetry you can get, and portrays the contrasts in Jong-soo's and Ben's lives through both subtle and clear scenes. The film requires you to accept that it takes a while to get into Lee's naturalistic grasp, but once you do, you can't take your eyes off the screen.

The second part of the film, which becomes a kind of existential riddle, is absolutely fantastic. You have no idea how it will end, but the feeling of discomfort and uncertainty is palpable. What actually happened? Was the cat that Hae-mi wanted Jong-soo to take care of really exist? Who is Ben? When will his cravings strike next? The questions are many and not all will necessarily be answered, but Lee relies on the audience's intelligence to be swept up in the plot more than to analyze it.

The actors are excellent in their roles, the film is technically well-made with well-chosen music and the sound contributes to the tight atmosphere. Burning is simply fantastic on every level. A film that, like life itself, happens before your eyes and then refuses to let go when it's over. Like a passionate burn that never leaves your skin.

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They're *burning*

This has been sitting on my watchlist for so long, I'm glad I finally got around to it.

First, it's too long.

Second, I just want to mention my favourite shot; when they were all smoking weed and as they were passing the joint the camera focused and unfocused as they took their puff. I thought it was pretty cool.

I also found it interesting how they showed Jong-su kill Ben but they didn't show Ben kill Hae-mi. You're kind of left with seeing Jong-su as the bad guy instead of Ben but you think Ben is worse because of the trophies he kept as well as the frequency of his kills and the zero remorse... But it wasn't proven. On the other hand, you could also look at Jong-su as the hero because Ben was going to kill another girl and he didn't have the proof and who would believe him over a rich man with status. Either side of the spectrum. A lot of "but did he really?"

I really liked it. Steven Yeun hi 😏

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It wasn't bad and boring just most have said about this movie. It was raw may be that's why they felt that way. It was a movie full of metaphors though I don't get everything at all. The movie left me with few questions about that damn cat - from the beginning till the end I was hoping for an answer but the movie ended and left me puzzled. May be he did not do it to Ben. May be its part of the story he was writing as was shown in the scene (YAI starts writing in Hae mi's room). A big imagination. Whatever it is, the movie felt short despite the 2hours+ movietime they have intended. Maybe its the reason why it was snubbed in the Oscars? lol just my thought.

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For deep thinkers OR those open to films with more than 1 EXACT interpretation (ambiguity)

I was VERY confused trying to figure out where the story was going for 1/2 of the movie but I oddly/weirdly enough kept my eyes on the screen the whole time & didn’t fast forward even when I was confused bc I didn’t want to miss any super deep crazy metaphor from the slow storyline.

It’s one of the movies where not much can happen vocally/physically but there’s symbolism in the simplest/quickest conversation between characters AND/OR cinematography. The solemn & storyline gave me the American movie “Lovely Bones” vibes. Though “Lovely Bones” you’ll actually cry a river of tears. It wasn’t perfect but it’s one I’d definitely recommend to anyone okay with exploring different genres & wanting to watch something with deep meaning. I love Yoo Ah In but I had to hide my eyes most time from the nudity HAHA he has a baby face & I was like “Oh no” even though he’s grown LOL.

This movie is not a waste of time you just have to be in the right mood when watching, have an open mind & be willing to question fact from fiction. It gives the chance for the audience to make a decision on what has happened. This could be used in a class tbh. If you’re used to this genre type the symbolism was easy to catch on to if you watch a lot of mystery cases/crimes & can connect what has happened to a similar storyline.

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I wish I could dissappear, like i never existed

"Burning" has been on my mind ever since I saw it a years ago—and I've been yearning for a film like this ever since, but honestly there's nothing like it. It's smart. It doesn't cry out for you to spot little things and expect praise. It's just so minimal yet liminal. Burning is a mostly slow and subtle film but when it hits it hits hard. It often follows the protagonist in his seemingly mundane daily routine and very little information is revealed about the few characters involved. It's amazing, almost like magic, how this film keeps the mystery of a story so close to us. It's hard to describe the feeling it gives off after i watch it. It's like seeing an optical illusion. The theme of seeing what is not there is what underlies the story of this film. We can get clues about this from the scene where Hae-mi mimes eating oranges in front of Jong-su who gapes at the beginning of the story. It's so realistic, Jong-su can feel the sweetness of the oranges Hae-mi is eating, but there aren't really any oranges there. This film confuses, grips us tightly, makes us miserable by our own bad thoughts, it's so good and entertaining in its own way. The events in this film are intended to be a mystery, open to the interpretation of each viewer, how each of us sees things. The uncertainty of what really happened is the film's main strength.

Burning is not like a traditional (Hollywood) thriller where clue after clue is dropped one after another, nor is it one where you are certain of what the end goal is. The extra-diegetic music is not used as a device to necessarily excite, but more as a way to help build tension and a mild anxiety. It is a quiet film filled with lonely characters. Because of that, I can’t recommend it to people who are looking for the traditional thriller because this film isn’t that – it offers more of a study on the characters, their surroundings

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