Burning

Fuente

Una historia puede tener diferentes significados según el espectador, pero a su vez, la misma historia al tener muchos aspectos ambiguos o que generan incertidumbre, requerirá la atención en los detalles para llegar a una conclusión; así ocurre con este título. Estrenada el 2018, producción coreana. Su director es Lee Chang-dong. Basado en un cuento de Haruki Murakami.

A story can have different meanings depending on the viewer, but in turn, the same story having many ambiguous aspects or generating uncertainty, will require attention to detail to reach a conclusion; so it is with this title. Released in 2018, Korean production. Its director is Lee Chang-dong. Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami.

Sinopsis: Lee Jong-su, un joven aspirante a novelista, tiene un reencuentro con una vecina de la infancia, Hae-mi. Tras ello, él acabará cuidando a su gato mientras Hae-mi realiza un viaje a África. En su regreso, ella le presentará a un amigo, Ben, quien es un joven rico y que al parecer tiene gustos peculiares.

Synopsis: Lee Jong-su, a young aspiring novelist, has a reunion with a childhood neighbor, Hae-mi. After that, he will end up taking care of her cat while Hae-mi takes a trip to Africa. On his return, she introduces him to a friend, Ben, who is a wealthy young man and apparently has peculiar tastes.

Fuente

Es una película de una larga duración y que la primera mitad, se enfoca en presentar a los personajes, en especial a Lee quien tiene que cuidar la casa de su padre, debido a que el último tiene un juicio en curso. La historia poco a poco nos dará un aire de extrañeza, en especial en Ben, que su comportamiento y frases que dice, nos hará preguntarnos de sus reales intenciones.

It is a long film and the first half focuses on introducing the characters, especially Lee who has to take care of his father's house because his father is on trial. The story will gradually give us an air of strangeness, especially in Ben, whose behavior and phrases he says, will make us wonder about his real intentions.

Llegado a un punto, la cinta girará a un tono de thriller, y los detalles que pudimos rescatar de la primera parte, comenzarán a cobrar importancia. Pero eso no acaba ahí, y es que tras el final resolutivo, muchas preguntas seguirán sin una respuesta clara. Y es que la cinta busca generar incertidumbre y ambigüedad, pues lo que realmente pasó puede tener varias interpretaciones, volviéndose un ejercicio creativo.

At a certain point, the film will turn to a thriller tone, and the details that we were able to rescue from the first part will begin to gain importance. But that does not end there, and after the final resolution, many questions will remain without a clear answer. The film seeks to generate uncertainty and ambiguity, because what really happened can have several interpretations, becoming a creative exercise.

Fuente

La fotografía es excelente, mostrando zonas rurales como la vida cosmopolita de Seul. La actuación si bien hace un buen trabajo, no es que destaque en ese aspecto. La música en especial para los momentos de tensión, apoyan bastante.

The cinematography is excellent, showing rural areas as well as the cosmopolitan life of Seoul. The acting, while doing a good job, is not outstanding in that aspect. The music, especially for the tense moments, is very supportive.

Si quieres ver un ejercicio creativo hecho cinta, esta película lo hace de manera excelente. Muchos detalles y diversas interpretaciones en un mismo título. Recomendable.

If you want to see a creative exercise in filmmaking, this film does it excellently. Many details and diverse interpretations in the same title. Highly recommended.

Calificación personal: 8.2 de 10

Personal rating: 8.2 out of 10

Lee Chang-dong's Burning was met with no prior knowledge of the film. While I had heard of it for a long, long time, it was yet another film that I chose to just ignore, following my trend of simply removing trailers and reviews and articles from discovery.

I have to say, the result of not paying attention to the marketing and media posts of films have significantly increased my enjoyment of them. Perhaps that's another post for another day, though.

That said, there's a common theme among Korean films that you can almost guarantee will be featured within them: drama, some degree of crime, and some truly engaging characters. But Burning integrates all of that into its narrative alongside some truly beautiful cinematography; you'll find yourself in awe over the settings, with the smooth colours of sunsets and composition advancing the film forward.

Burning's narrative is focused around two central characters, one (Yoo Ah-in as Lee Jong-su) seemingly obsessed with one that has gone missing with no clear indication as to where she's gone, and another: a rich, sophisticated (Steven Yeun as Ben) with a rather strange personality that seems as if something inner is being hidden, something kept well away from normal relationships that he seems to have with many other women.

What sparks in Burning -- no pun intended -- is the way that its narrative orients itself around these two characters and allows the possibilities of just what happened to the female (Jeon Jong-seo as Shin Hae-mi) be concluded by the viewer. There's never a definite answer, but a series of clues that result in potentially numerous options throughout the film. You could conclude that Ben is a strange killer that jumps from woman to woman, keeping parts of their belongings as trophies; or that Ben is a bit of a fucked up personality that purposely targets lower-classed females to joke about with his upper-classed friends.

The contrast between two relatively fucked up scenarios results in the question of morality arising, and whether our main protagonist is taking drastic actions attempting to discover the truth. Perhaps Ben is totally innocent, and Lee Jong-su is just taking on this stalker-like mentality as he roams around, following Ben and attempting to find the whereabouts of a woman that perhaps doesn't even want to be found, especially by him.

Burning is a beautiful film, but with a very blatant dark overtone, as the truth becomes what the viewer makes it, and the conclusion is wrapped in a thick layer of dark events that have you really wanting more answers.

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