The Smoke Is Implied: Burning Is A Resounding Cinematic Triumph

Implication and ambiguity are important tools to balance in any work of art, in particular the medium of storytelling. The perspective through which plot details are fed can often have a large impact on how stories are interpreted by the audience, often times the most effectively haunting and impactful pieces allow for our own informed conjecture on what truly transpired and how we should feel about it. To say it is incredibly difficult to pull off, well you don’t need me to tell you that, just use your imagination. Director Lee Chang-dong may have mastered the uses of these tools in his 2018 film Burning which is based on a 12 page short story by novelist and short story writer Haruki Murakami.

Jong-su, a young deliveryman, and aspiring writer is greeted emphatically by a raffle worker named Hae-mi whilst walking down the sidewalk. We learn quickly through natural dialogue that they were childhood acquaintances, that Hae-mi is going on a trip to Africa to try and find personal meaning, and that she would like him to feed her cat while she is away. When she returns she introduces him to Ben, a man she met whilst on her travels. A fascinating character drama unravels between these three as Jong-su becomes suspicious and believes that Hae-mi is in danger.

Income disparity is a motif that is found in multiple different ways throughout the film. Through smart shot framing and more importantly and often, smart storytelling and characterization. Jong-su representing the blue collar working class, Ben representing opulent modern affluence, and Hae-mi being somewhat of a bridge between the two of them. She did introduce them after all. Even details such as the sun drenched tone of Jong-su’s skin versus the clear light complexion of Ben’s is taken into account.

Elaborating further on characterization I can’t remember the last time that I’ve seen such great character writing in a standalone film. There may not even be a “last time.” Since its focus is on character drama I feel it is important to clearly outline the major players.

Jong-su is drifting through life and his apathy towards anything and everything including his family that he is estranged with is heavily apparent. He is unsure of how to comfortably be in settings where he is unfamiliar or in the many new places Ben takes him to, intimately aware of how “there are so many Gatsbys in Korea.”

Hae-mi is the most well-written of the three and I don’t know if this speaks to my impressionability or the quality of her characterization (probably both), but she is someone that I found myself genuinely wanting to know personally. She is in the midst of trying to work her way up the income ladder, formerly having lived in Jong-su’s poorer area and having just moved to an apartment in the city. As mentioned earlier she is trying to find meaning in her life through any means she can. Through moments of promiscuity and emotional authenticity her loneliness and isolation is contrasted with her facade of effervescent demeanor.

Ben does not fall victim to the “rich man archetype” to the film’s ambiguity benefit. He never outwardly conveys himself to feel superior to others in the form of degrading them for their net worth but we are given important details that show just how different of a life he leads. He is unable to remember the last time he cried, he can’t recall the last time he felt jealousy, he sees himself above the law but not overtly, choose to toe the line in the form of marijuana consumption (which is illegal in Korea), and more importantly, his pyromaniacal tendencies of burning abandoned greenhouses down. The darkest sides of Ben are always implied.

None of these details or narrative threads are clearly spelled out to the viewer. Which works extremely well and is thematically congruent with its deliberate pacing and cinematography. The continuous underbelly of uneasiness and haze is punctuated by the sparingly used but always effective score by Mowg. It tells its story through moments where discrepancy takes center stage It plays with the aforementioned narrative uncertainty and implications brilliantly. A thriller that is smarter than instant gratification and constant action, relying on psychological tension rather than action and a film that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

One could interpret this film in a myriad of ways. As for me, my takeaways of this work is two-fold. How upper-classes of Korea are tacitly encouraged to marginalize the working-classes so as to “make Korea more beautiful.” A side effect of the unrealistic beauty standards and a knife to the heart of Korean aristocracy to acknowledge the efforts of those who are deemed a symbolic but almost literal “stain” on Korea’s metaphorically pristine dress shirt. Or at least how they want themselves to appear. The anxieties of the working class will bite back against emasculation in one way or another, whether justifiably or not.

However underneath that important layer is the beating heart of the film’s core message. To be proactive about what is important and valuable in your life lest you find yourself panicking and scrounging around last minute reactively making choices that push you further to the point of no return.