Lee Jong-su spots a woman promoting a lottery in front of a store, Hae-mi, and she says she is his child friend he forgot. They have sex in her apartment, and she asks him to take care of her cat in the apartment while she is away for a trip in Africa. Hae-mi returns with a man, Ben, whom she met on the trip. Hae-mi, Ben and Jong-su hang out together. Jong-su admits he enjoys burning abandoned greenhouses in a farm he grew up. One day, Hae-mi mysteriously disappears without a trace. Jong-su suspects Ben and follows him. Ben invites him to a party at his place, where Jong-su finds Hae-mi's pink watch in a drawer. Jong-su invites Ben in the middle of nowhere. There, Jong-su stabs and kills him, burning his body.
Despite high critical recognition, Lee Chang dong's "Burning" is a hermetic and frustrating experience, a peculiar amalgamation of art-film, drama and in the end (semi)-crime mystery. The problem is that nothing is going on in the first hour, and only after the main heroine Hae-mi disappears does the story become more interesting and multilayered. But even in that edition, when the protagonist Jong-su is searching for the missing Hae-mi, it never truly captivates to the fullest, it has too much empty walk and an unnecessary running time of 148 minutes, whereas Chang dong seems either unwilling or unable to engage the viewers more and create some higher suspense. In this edition, it seems as if Jarmusch had directed a Hitchcock movie. The minimalist story just lingers on the relationship between three people, but creates a specific mood, character development, visuals (the silhouette of Hae-mi as she takes her shirt off and slowly starts "dancing" during the sunset) and music (in those rare instances when it shows up). "Burning" was subjected to several interpretations and analysis, but there is simply not enough info in the sole movie as for any viewer to know anything with certainty. Was a certain character a villain or not? Did he abduct her or did she just disappear all by herself? "Burning" is elegant and ambitious, conjuring up a mystery that can captivate a certain part of the audience, yet it is still a weaker edition of Sluizer's "The Vanishing".
Grade:++
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