Burning

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Movie
German title Burning
Original title Burning ( 버닝 )
Country of production South Korea
original language Korean
Publishing year 2018
length 148 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Lee Chang-dong
script Oh Jung-mi
Lee Chang-dong
production Ok Gwang-hee
Lee Joon-dong
music Mowg
camera Hong Kyung-pyo
cut Kim Hyun
Kim Da-won
occupation
The baton of Burning at the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival . Left to right: Lee Jun-dong, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo, Yoo Ah-in and director Lee Chang-dong.

Burning is a 2018 film by South Korean director Lee Chang-dong , starring Yoo Ah-in , Steven Yeun and Jeon Jong-seo . The film is based on Haruki Murakami's short story Scheunenabbrennen (1983) from the short story collection The Elephant Disappears (1993).

Burning premiered on May 16, 2018 in the competition at the Cannes International Film Festival , where it was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize . The film was also the South Korean entry for the 2019 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category .

action

During a part-time job, Jongsu meets a former classmate. Jongsu doesn't recognize them, but Haemi suggests that they go to the restaurant together. Haemi tells him that she saved some money to travel to Africa to look for the meaning of life there. Haemi asks Jongsu to take care of her cat during this time. When Haemi shows him her apartment, however, her cat does not show up, which is why Jongsu questions its existence. Then they sleep together .

Jongsu, who lives in the border town of Paju , takes care of the cat's food in Haemi's absence, but does not see it. About two weeks later, Jongsu received a call from Haemi that she had been stuck at Nairobi airport for three days due to a terrorist attack , but was now coming back. She asks Jongsu to pick her up the following day. Jongsu is very happy to see her again. However, Haemi introduces him directly to Ben, whom she met at the airport in Kenya . Both were the only Koreans there.

In the evening the three of them go out to eat. Haemi talks about her experiences in Africa, is overwhelmed by her feelings and begins to cry. Ben says he can't understand why people were crying; he never did it himself. In the period that followed, the three met a few more times.

One day, Ben and Haemi, who both live in Seoul , visit Jongsu on his farm in Paju . Haemi tells from her memory how she fell into a well there as a child and was saved by Jongsu. The three smoke marijuana together . Haemi then begins to undress and dance in front of the setting sun before falling asleep. So Jongsu and Ben talk alone. Jongsu talks about his father, whom he hates. When his mother left her, his father forced him to burn all of his mother's things. Ben then begins to talk about his hobby: every two months he burns down a greenhouse . He had already noticed that there were a few around Jongsu and he had already chosen his next destination.

Before Ben leaves for Seoul with Haemi, Jongsu tells her that only whores would expose themselves to men like this. In the days that followed, Jongsu observed the area closely and went to all the greenhouses. Finally, Jongsu receives a call from Haemi, but nothing is said, only a person's running kicks can be heard. Jongsu has still not seen a fire and is concerned about Haemi. Everything is tidy at home, but she is no longer there. Ben is no longer in contact with her either. However, he tells Jongsu that Haemi is more lonely than Jongsu imagines: she has no contact with relatives or friends. It is as if she has gone up in smoke.

Jongsu searches for Haemi everywhere but cannot find her. He's spying on Ben. One day Ben discovers him in his car and invites him over. Jongsu finds Haemi's watch in Ben's bathroom in a compartment with various bracelets and where it was not the last time. Ben now also has a cat. When Jongsu calls her by the name of Haemi's cat, she comes to him.

The next morning Jongsu calls Ben to him in the country, where he stabs Ben. Jongsu exposes himself, sets the gasoline-covered Ben on fire in his car and burns his clothes with him before he leaves the scene naked.

production

classification

After eight years, Lee Chang-dong returned to the director's chair with Burning . He caused a sensation at film festivals around the world with his films. After Tim Grierson, movie buffs around the world were eagerly awaiting his new film. To this end, he has partly teamed up with a new team: with cameraman Hong Kyung-pyo , who often works with Na Hong-jin and Bong Joon-ho , and the composer Mowg , who does the music for Kim Jee-woon's films, but also for many more, contributed.

The main actor Yoo Ah-in had his breakthrough years earlier and is one of the big, young stars of South Korean cinema . In Germany he is best known as the ruthless opponent of Hwang Jung-min in Veteran - Above the Law (2015). For Jeon Jong-seo is Burning her first film role. She studied film at Sejong University , but often missed lectures and went to the cinema instead. She decided to audition for the film and successfully prevailed. Hailed by critics as a shooting star, she is given the role of the "Murakami girl" in Burning .

Steven Yeun is a Hollywood star, where his role in the zombie series The Walking Dead helped his breakthrough. Pierce Conran describes his choice as a stroke of genius, because as a Korean-American he exudes a certain kind of foreignness that benefits the role of the enigmatic Ben. Yeun said he was delighted to work with Lee Chang-dong. It is his second South Korean-directed film after Okja (2017) by Bong Joon-ho .

background

When screenwriter Oh Jung-mi Murakami's short story Burning Down the Barn suggested Lee Chang-dong as an idea for their next film together, Lee was initially amazed that nothing happened in the story. Nevertheless, he found the story so mysterious that he finally wanted to make a film. The gaps in history, the missing piece, without which one would never know the truth, is just like the world of our time. Something is wrong in the world, but we cannot fathom what exactly it is.

Lee's intention was to make a film about the anger of today's young people. It seems that, regardless of nationality , religion or social background, youth are angry for various reasons. In South Korea , young people suffer from rising youth unemployment and do not know who to direct their anger against. At the same time, it seems that the world is developing into an increasingly sophisticated, comfortable and perfectly functioning place. So the world appears like a riddle. In Burning , Ben is that riddle.

subjects

In English , the short story bears the same title as William Faulkner's work Brandstifter (Original: Barn Burning , 1939). Screenwriter Oh Jung-mi was intrigued when both Murakami and William Faulkner wrote a short story of the same title (Barn Burning) . But while Murakami's story is a metaphor , Faulkner's work deals directly with anger. Faulkner is referenced in the film as Jongsu's favorite author.

In Burning , the barns of the original became greenhouses . These are more common in South Korea than barns. Oh and Lee also justify their choice with the fact that greenhouses are transparent, but the plastic is mostly dirty. Oh imagined a man outside staring into the empty space of nothing. It was built for a reason, but it is now useless. Comparable with it are the pantomime, the cat and also Ben. One wonders if Haemi's story is real, if the cat exists, and who Ben is anyway.

publication

Burning celebrated its world premiere on May 16, 2018 at the Cannes International Film Festival . Just one day later, on May 17, 2018, the film was shown in South Korean cinemas. In South Korea the film is not rated for young people .

The film opened in Switzerland on January 10, 2019. Capelight Pictures acquired the distribution rights for Germany . The federal launch took place on June 6, 2019.

reception

The film had over half a million admissions in South Korea . In France , where Burning opened on August 29, 2018, the film reached over 190,000 moviegoers. It is the third most successful South Korean film in France, after Train to Busan and The Pickpocket (both in 2016). In the international critics' survey for the Cannes Film Festival by Screen International magazine , Burning achieved a new record with 3.8 out of 4 possible points. The previous leader was the film Toni Erdmann with 3.7 points.

The film was generally very well received. Tim Grierson of Screen Daily is Burning full of events that can be interpreted in different ways, a dark tale full of mystery: the film is remarkably complex and unfathomable; the more often you see him, the more unclear what you see. For Pierce Conran, Burning is a thriller like no other. Carsten Baumgardt from Filmstarts cannot understand why the film was not honored with the Golden Palm and sees Burning as a masterpiece. It is a love triangle with a “so-called fascination”. The first hour you don't know which genre the film should be assigned to. The films retain their mysteriousness until the end. According to Rolling Stone's Peter Travelers , this “breathtaking thriller” begins with a romance like The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). But everything changes when the character Ben moves into the story. Burning covers a wide range of topics: family, class, envy, crime, injustice and what William Faulkner called "the human heart in conflict with itself". With his film staff and the outstanding trio, Lee has created a mesmerizing and haunting film that transcends genres and digs deep into the human being. Katja Nicodemus von der Zeit even sees the film as “one of the best films of all time”. Jens Balkenborg calls the film a “cinematographic smoldering fire” in his review for Friday . With “captivating calm and vibrant suspense”, Lee Chang-dong rolls out his story, “one of the most extraordinary representations of a menage-à-trois that has found its way onto the screen in recent years”.

The acting performance of the three protagonists was widely praised. For Conran, Burning marks the best performance of their careers for both Yoo Ah-in and Steven Yeun. Jeon Jongsu is magnetic, caught between dreams and reality. Even if all three actors are first class, Todd McCarthy from Hollywood Reporter Jeon misses in the second half of the film. Her character Haemi has the unbeatable combination of being beautiful and modest at the same time and is full of lust for life. Vogue's John Powers feels the film grow darker and more unhappy as soon as Jeon's character is not in the picture. He interprets this feeling as wanted by Lee, so that the viewer feels the threat to Haemi emanating from the wishes and desires of the two men. Hong Kyung-pyo's award-winning cinematography and Mowg's music also received very positive reviews. For Conran, Hong is once again excellent. Baumgardt finds the cameraman's performance "terrific" because of his poetic, melancholy images. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times describes the scene in which Ben and Haemi come out to Jongsu in the country as one of the most beautiful movie scenes in years. Tim Robey of the British Daily Telegraph describes the conclusion of this sequence as the most beautifully arranged and emotionally meaningful scene: as Haemi, intoxicated and topless, dancing to Miles Davis with the sun setting behind the trees. He gives Burning 5 out of 5 stars . David Sims of The Atlantic describes the conversation between Jongsu and Ben - which immediately follows the mentioned scene when Haemi is already asleep - as "the most compelling dialogue of the film year".

For John Powers, Lee Chang-dong is currently the most interesting director in the world. Nobody has made more good films than him in the past 20 years. His films were about normal people caught up in emotional extremes. But Lee never does the same thing twice. With Burning he created an ambiguous, metaphysical thriller about isolation, social classes and the dark corners of the male psyche.

Awards

Cannes International Film Festival 2018

Manaki Brothers Film Festival 2018

  • Golden Camera 300 for Hong Kyung-pyo

Buil Film Awards 2018

  • Award for Best Director for Lee Chang-dong
  • Award in the category Best Music for Mowg

Korean Association of Film Critics Awards 2018

  • Best 11 films
  • FIPRESCI Prize for Lee Chang-dong
  • Hong Kyung-pyo received an award in the Best Cinematography category

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2018

Daejong Film Award 2018

  • Award in the Best Film category

Film from Sør 2018

  • Silver Mirror (Sølvspeilet; Best Film)

Baeksang Arts Awards 2019

  • Honored with the Art Award for Hong Kyung-pyo

Saturn Award ceremony 2019

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for burning . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 189974 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ David Sims: Burning Is a Patient, Spellbinding Mystery Thriller. In: The Atlantic . October 26, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Kristen Yoonsoo Kim: Burning Would Have Won. The cerebral Korean thriller was shortlisted for an Academy Award — and then it was snubbed. So what happened? In: GQ . February 22, 2019, accessed April 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c Tim Grierson: 'Burning': Cannes Review. Lee Chang-dong sets fire to Cannes competition. In: Screendaily . May 17, 2018, accessed October 29, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Jeon Jong-seo Talks About Her Step into Spotlight with Debut Film. In: Chosun Ilbo . July 14, 2018, accessed October 14, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Jin Min-ji: Jeon Jong-seo struck gold earlier than she expected: The young actor found herself at Cannes Film Festival after first film role. In: Korea JoongAng Daily . June 1, 2018, accessed October 14, 2018 .
  7. ^ Douglas Greenwood: Jun Jong-seo Is South Korea's Next Bright Young Movie Star. The 22-year-old newcomer's debut film Burning bowled over audiences at Cannes Film Festival. In: iD. Vice , May 23, 2018, accessed October 31, 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b c d e Pierce Conran: Cannes 2018 Review: BURNING, a Slow Burn for the Ages. In: ScreenAnarchy. May 16, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  9. ^ Kristen Tauer: Steven Yeun Realizes His Dream (One of Them, Anyway). In: WWD. October 25, 2018, accessed on October 30, 2018 (English, better describe).
  10. ↑ a b c d e Burning. A film by Lee Chang-dong . (English, cdn-media.festival-cannes.com [PDF; 751 kB ; accessed on October 27, 2018] press release).
  11. ↑ a b c Manohla Dargis: Review: In 'Burning,' Love Ignites a Divided World. In: The New York Times . October 25, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b Burning (2018). In: Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved October 27, 2018 .
  13. ↑ 버닝. In: Korea Media Rating Board. Retrieved April 19, 2019 (Korean).
  14. ↑ BURNING. In: Xenix Filmdistribution. Retrieved April 19, 2019 .
  15. ↑ BURNING. In: Capelight Pictures. Retrieved April 19, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Carsten Baumgardt: "Burning": 5-star mystery masterpiece gets German cinema release. In: film starts . April 1, 2019, accessed April 19, 2019 .
  17. ^ Database on admissions of films released in Europe: Burning. In: Lumiere. Accessed April 28, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Kim Hye-seon: Burning Wins the Hearts of the French Audience . In: Korean Cinema Today . tape 32 , October 2018, p. 4 (English, download [PDF; 88.5 MB ; accessed on April 28, 2019]).
  19. ↑ Ben Dalton: 'Burning' tops Screen's final 2018 Cannes jury grid with record score. Burning, Lee Chang-dong's drama based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, has finished top of Screen's Cannes 2018 jury grid with a record score of 3.8 out of 4. In: Screen Daily. May 19, 2018, accessed October 29, 2018 .
  20. ↑ a b Carsten Baumgardt: Burning. In: film starts . Retrieved October 27, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Peter Travers: 'Burning' Review: Love Triangles, Class Envy Fuel Three-Alarm Thriller. South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong delivers a knockout with story of two men, a woman and a missing-person mystery. In: Rolling Stone . October 24, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Katja Nicodemus : Simply lifted off! In: Zeit Online . June 5, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Mystery - How deep is the well? Retrieved September 24, 2019 .
  24. ↑ a b c Todd McCarthy: 'Burning': Film Review | Cannes 2018. In: The Hollywood Reporter . May 16, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  25. ^ A b John Powers: Burning Is the New Thriller About Toxic Masculinity That You Didn't Know You Needed. In: Vogue . October 26, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Tim Robey: Burning review: a daring study of class conflict and sexual longing that blazes with mystery. In: The Telegraph . May 17, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018 .
  27. ↑ David Sims: The Mysterious Conversation That Creates an Obsession in Burning. In: The Atlantic . December 30, 2018, accessed April 28, 2019 .
  28. ↑ 71tst Festival de Cannes Awards. In: festival-cannes.com. May 19, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 .
  29. ^ 71st Cannes International Film Festival. In: FIPRESCI . Retrieved October 28, 2018 .
  30. ^ An Evening of Awards at the 39th ICFF Manaki Brothers. In: manaki.com.mk. September 29, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Kim Hyo-jeong: 부일 영화상. In: Busan Ilbo . September 20, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2018 (Korean).
  32. ↑ Lee Seung-mi: 이성민 · 한지민 '영평상' 남녀 주연상… '1987' 최우수 작품상. In: Naver. Sport Chosun, October 22, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 (Korean).
  33. ↑ (LEAD) 'Burning' wins best picture at Daejong Film Awards. In: Yonhap . October 22, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 .
  34. ↑ Sølvspeilet. In: Film from Sør. November 18, 2018, accessed February 24, 2019 (Norwegian).
  35. ^ Hanan Haddad: All The Winners From The 55th Baeksang Arts Awards in Seoul. In: E! News. May 2, 2019, accessed on May 22, 2019 .