BURNING (dir. Lee Chang-dong, 2018) - Murakami adaptation feat. Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, and Jeon Jong-seo

Yeah it's not clear at all to me that Ben is a serial killer - all the evidence against him is circumstantial. You can't even know for sure that his cat = Haemi's cat! It's equally likely that this is a story that Jongsu wants to believe, because it fits with his suspicions about the Bens/Gatsbys of the world.

Like so much of this movie is about Jongsu's insecurities and barely concealed rage - whether directed at women like Haemi, at Ben, at his inability to write like Faulkner, or at his father, and it all comes spilling out at the end.

i felt that Ben was definitely a serial killer but yeah, the movie gives more attention to Jongu's story as you outline

Roz OTM - the evidence all points clearly towards Ben, but said evidence is entirely circumstantial, and the entirety of the ending tips toward highlighting how unbalanced the person analysing that evidence is.

Lee will be appearing at MoMA's 6-film retro of his work in 3 weeks. I haven't seen Peppermint Candy in a long time, and two of the others ever.

https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5043?locale=en

clearly v artfully ambiguous film

steven yeun is so perfectly creepy

Loved this

Eric finally saw Burning

This episode of Tidying Up gets really dark pic.twitter.com/FStux31u6o

— Eric Allen Hatch (@ericallenhatch) February 13, 2019

he did this one last week

BURNING (2018):

(･_･)っmaybe
(っ / Ben
Lﾉ┘

　 ∧___∧ didn’t
⊂(・＿・ ) literally
　ヽ ⊂二/ mean
　(⌒) /

／　　　　　＼green-
|　　●　 　● | houses
＼　　＿＿ ／

— Eric Allen Hatch (@ericallenhatch) February 7, 2019

Saw this at the weekend, just starting to engage with this thread...was Haemi even murdered?

My recollection from Murakami us that he likes people to disappear. It's there in L'avventura..

..and other films too. Its there in Teorema.

Did Haemi and Jong-Su even know one another? Striking how he really can't remember her at all. Throws up the possibility that she appears and disappears, leaving an emptiness in Jong-Su that eventually lapses into psychosis.

ya - he burns down relationships

xxp

really liked this film a lot, appreciated the second viewing even more than the first. agree with the thoughts expressed above that Lee was leading us to the conclusion that Ben was a serial killer, but also that Jong-Su was descending into an irrational state

I felt like my understanding of what was really happening in the story kept changing with every scene

i believe that's what the director was masterfully executing!

Also enjoyed this film and its pacing after being willfully spoiled on this thread with everyone's talk/interpretations.

Didn't Hae-mi mention that her cat was not fond of strangers and might hide from Jong-Su, when she asked him to feed it? When Ben's cat escapes the apartment and Jong-Su is able to catch it, I read that scene as the cat knowing Jong-Su from his visits to Hae-mi's apartment, therefore, it's her cat.

The last scene was brutal. Ben's expression, their hug, the cars in the background and on that road, shedding his clothes, etc.

Also, the cat only comes to Jong-Su when he says the name of Hae-mi's cat. I mean, it's not proof of anything, but it's pretty clear what we're supposed to take from it.

Wowww, so good. I have to sit down and think about this for a couple of days.

On Netflix now right? Will try to watch on the next week

Yeah, added Monday.

https://www.freersackler.si.edu/events-overview/films/

There'll be a screening of Burning this Saturday (2 p.m.) at the Freer Gallery, to be followed by a reception and informal discussion. I'm not 100% certain I'll be going, but I'm curious if anyone else is interested.

That was intense.

one major criticism: there should have been more ambiguity surrounding the cat's existence to raise the possibility that some other agent was pooping in the apt, or if indeed there was any poop to begin with.

poop truthers

makes you think...
https://s.put.re/aJaaQYnL.png

enjoyed reading this thread again. was thinking about Lee after watching Oasis for a second time. I really like the moments in that film just before they receive their Jajang noodles that is a sudden break from reality, and also in the subway later