Burning

Name: Burning
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Released: October 26, 2018
Duration: 148 min
Rating: 91
Cast: Ah In Yoo, Bok-gi Min, Hye-ra Ban, Ja-Yeon Ok, Jong-seo Jeon

2018

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 39 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 202 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 202 Ratings

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Burning

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Movie Details & Credits

Well Go USA Entertainment | Release Date: October 26, 2018 | Not Rated

Starring: Ah In Yoo, Bok-gi Min, Hye-ra Ban, Ja-Yeon Ok, Jong-seo Jeon, Joong-ok Lee, Mi-Kyung Cha, Moon Sung-Keun, Seong-kun Mun, Seung-ho Choi, Soo-Jeong Lee, Soo-Kyung Kim, Steven Yeun

Summary: The difficult life of Jongsu (Ah-in Yoo), a frustrated introvert, is complicated by the appearance of two people into his orbit: first, Haemi (Jong-seo Jun), a spirited woman who offers romantic possibility, and then, Ben (Steven Yeun), a wealthy and sophisticated young man she returns with from a trip. When Jongsu learns of Ben’sThe difficult life of Jongsu (Ah-in Yoo), a frustrated introvert, is complicated by the appearance of two people into his orbit: first, Haemi (Jong-seo Jun), a spirited woman who offers romantic possibility, and then, Ben (Steven Yeun), a wealthy and sophisticated young man she returns with from a trip. When Jongsu learns of Ben’s mysterious hobby and Haemi suddenly disappears, his confusion and obsessions begin to mount, culminating in a stunning finale.… Expand

Director: Chang-dong Lee

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 148 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Malik Adan

Oct 6, 2018

Like a brooding nightmare, Burning washes over audiences with passing visions of multiple lives, secrets and betrayals, all leading to no single, clean-cut or simple explanation. Read full review

100

Joe Morgenstern

Nov 1, 2018

The whole film feels magical in the way it gets at intangible, invisible, ineffable things without naming them, and tells a gripping story of obsession at a poet’s pace, without need of conventional explanations. Read full review

100

Trevor Johnston

Feb 14, 2022

It’s gripping in the moment, but with plenty to take away for afterwards. Genius really isn’t too strong a word. Read full review

Peter Travers

Oct 24, 2018

This stunning, slow-build thriller from South Korean director Lee Chang-dong sizzles with a cumulative power that will knock the wind out of you. Read full review

Michael Phillips

Nov 29, 2018

A languorous, catlike psychological puzzle from one of the essential international masters, Lee Chang-dong. Read full review

Niles Schwartz

Sep 10, 2018

With Burning, Lee Chang-dong extraordinarily obliterates the bifurcation between life and representation, the thing in itself and the metaphor. Read full review

G. Allen Johnson

Nov 14, 2018

The second-half of Burning is allegorical and intentionally obtuse. It’s intriguing, even. But it all leads to an ending that satisfies no one, especially after 2½ hours. Read full review

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User Reviews

Eugenes9

Aug 18, 2020

a very good film that holds your attention with good editing and a smooth screenplay...unlike the film Parasite that tried too hard to be creative and funny. I would recommend Burning.....a movie that will hold your interest to the very end .....

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Dave_F

Mar 13, 2020

A really good film (once I had got past the subtitles!

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

DefinitelyMayb

Apr 27, 2019

A masterpiece of filmmaking. Reminds me of watching Mulholland Drive for the first time. Film can be interpreted in many ways and still won't answer the central premise of the thriller. It is a remarkable piece of modern mystery and gives the impression the film goes beyond what theA masterpiece of filmmaking. Reminds me of watching Mulholland Drive for the first time. Film can be interpreted in many ways and still won't answer the central premise of the thriller. It is a remarkable piece of modern mystery and gives the impression the film goes beyond what the characters say or do.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

amheretojudge

Jan 14, 2019

Running For A Lost Cause.

Burning Lee's illuminating thriller lights a havoc on the drama genre. From scene one, the slow pill is the best medicine one can aspire for such a shady tale, and Lee's vision doesn't go off track, even for a split second in this more than two hours of marathon.Running For A Lost Cause.

Burning

Lee's illuminating thriller lights a havoc on the drama genre. From scene one, the slow pill is the best medicine one can aspire for such a shady tale, and Lee's vision doesn't go off track, even for a split second in this more than two hours of marathon. A perfectly balanced and properly constructed film, that balances characters' perspective and the bones of the storyline on nothing but uncertainty. And it is that element of uncertainty in air, that keeps challenging us to think beyond our imaginations and the responsible driver is Lee armed with a meticulous script and brilliant execution. Probably only once they refer the word "metaphor" which doesn't mean anything, for besides that, it is immensely layered and a mirror of the intentions and deep dark thoughts of these characters.

One might assume that after its first half, the film would drive towards the rudimentary investigation process, but Lee has some other plans for you, he has been building up the entire film for that last trick that leaves its viewers hanging without any clue. And this is where the film gets better, after it ends, it allows you to roll back all the tell tales and innuendos that was driving towards this destination, boy what a ride it is.

Aforementioned, the entire film is dipped into metaphor, Lee is not ready to reveal his secret till the last frame, he holds on to it like his dearest, which makes us hold onto this wider range allegory, never has a tale been so fluctuating and pulsating. From the shadow of a lighthouse to a cow, from well crafted rumors to a cat, it is a buoyant absorbing tale that tests you intellectually and spiritually. And walking that fine line, resides Lee's true intentions of the tale, and as a character quotes once in the film, The Greater Hunger- the meaning of life.

Yoo, the protagonist, has pretty much a similar role to its audience, he too is trying to figure out and analyse the world around him, and fortunately he is at best at his depressive state rather than an overprotective one. Jun as the essential part of the mystery act, has plays an amazing role to cast the spell of hers enough to not let it wear off until the credits rolls. But the show stealer would always be Yeun, in his rich charismatic cloak.

With his stunning portrayal, and the substance of his characters that is most attracting than any others, his ideologies speaks much more than one anticipates. If its first act is spent upon building our protagonist, then the second one is depicting the eerie chemistry of this scary friendship, leaving us with a last act that is basically joining the dots. Hence, personally I prefer when Yeun invades Yoo and Jun's life with a big pack of gusto. Burning burns more than you would think, in fact it leaves us with only ashes for us to investigate, and to survive from that has its own sweet results.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JLuis_001

May 26, 2019

This is a bleak film, mostly in tone and atmosphere, not narratively.
It's also too dubious and spaced. The film relies heavily in ambiguity and certainly challenges you to infer things but not always what is insinuated is really rewarding or satisfying when the plot isn't really direct.This is a bleak film, mostly in tone and atmosphere, not narratively.
It's also too dubious and spaced. The film relies heavily in ambiguity and certainly challenges you to infer things but not always what is insinuated is really rewarding or satisfying when the plot isn't really direct.

Burning is a dense film, I wouldn't say complex but it does has certain deep and hidden layers that invite you to revisit it, unfortunately its slow character study and the slow narrative are not so exciting especially because I think that seeing it again would imply not to enjoy it again but to notice the things you overlooked the first time and I say that because I'm 100% sure that there were things that I didn't quite noticed

Immersive no doubt about that but not as captivating as I had been led to believe.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

OlivierPiel

Jan 16, 2019

Movie critics seems to have fallen in love with this cinematic adaptation of Murakami. They seem to praise the atmosphere of the film, congratulating themselves in deciphering the metaphores dropped here and there like a little Tom Thumb by the film director, some even philosophizing on theMovie critics seems to have fallen in love with this cinematic adaptation of Murakami. They seem to praise the atmosphere of the film, congratulating themselves in deciphering the metaphores dropped here and there like a little Tom Thumb by the film director, some even philosophizing on the Little/Great Hunger theme brought up by the female protagonist.
Reading all of them, I was left wondering if any had ever read Murakami's work because this author indulges far too much in pseudo-philosophy à la Paulo Coelho or Yann Martel's Life of Pi with immature failed artists trying to find "the meaning of life"! To be fair, the film manages indeed to accurately put on the screen the gently nihilistic, decadent pre-otaku world of Murakami and his world of likeable over-educated dreamy but lazy, passive "sick-of-the-world" Japanese losers (in a way that resembles Wong Kar Wai's Chungking express). He also goes further, by evidently adding a layer of social-political critique of our current materialistic society. This is slightly too much on the nose however and adds to the biggest problem of this film: It's 2 1/2 hour long!! All the scenes could have been cut by 2/3rd and wouldn't have lost much. Many scenes are also totally useless both for plot exposition or the characters development. The second half of the film is almost totally redundant in scene after scene, for no good artistic reason.
Murakami never left me with an impression of art and beauty but rather an unhealthy habit of self-indulgent introspection to justify a lack of will. Compared with the great Japanese masters, Sooseki, Oe or Mishima, his work seemed trite but content of this very fact.
This is the same with this film.
It doesn't add up to much....and definitely won't "leave a lasting impression"as many critics seem to believe.… Expand

3 of 11 users found this helpful38

Broyax

Apr 20, 2020

Presque deux heures et demi qui ne racontent rien, tout ça pour déboucher sur une fin qui tombe comme un cheveu sur la soupe... alors qu'un court-métrage d'un petit quart d'heure aurait suffi en fait... quel gâchis de temps et de moyens, c'est dingue...!

Et encore, loin de choquer,Presque deux heures et demi qui ne racontent rien, tout ça pour déboucher sur une fin qui tombe comme un cheveu sur la soupe... alors qu'un court-métrage d'un petit quart d'heure aurait suffi en fait... quel gâchis de temps et de moyens, c'est dingue...!

Et encore, loin de choquer, d'irriter, d'épater ou de faire rire (peut-être au 15ème degré, qui sait...!) cette fin laisse complètement indifférent le spectateur à l'égard des personnages qu'il a suivis pendant ces deux plombes et demi... (et quel sacerdoce, quel dévouement il faut, car tout le film se traîne et s'étire à n'en plus finir !).

Bref, on se fout des personnages et de ce qui leur est arrivé mais on est pas indifférent à l'égard du film lui-même et a fortiori du réalisateur qui a pondu un véritable instrument de torture : eh oui, la torture par l'ennui ! un nouveau supplice souvent coréen d'ailleurs (mais pas seulement, on trouve de l'ennui -et de la prétention de peigne-culs partout, dans le monde entier du cinéma merdique...).

En tout cas, on touche le fond ici, avec cette vacuité interminable qui reste paradoxalement à la surface des choses et s'égare de temps à autre dans quelques scènes putassières inutiles... alors balance-moi ça à la benne et direction l'incinérateur !… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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