By Corey Atad
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreading: Issac
Source: Filmmaker (October 25, 2018)
For Li Cangdong's latest masterpiece, Burning, mystery is everything.
In this two-and-a-half-hour epic film, each moment of lucidity is imbued with the subtlest ambiguity, which refuses to present any real clarity, but in its own way provides a clear description of the stresses and worries of modern life.
"Burning"
Burning, Lee's first film after 2010's Poems, is based on Haruki Murakami's short story "Burning Barn", which tells the story of a young man named Zhong Xiu (Liu Yaren) who lives near the border between North korea and has poor living conditions.
Once, on a trip to Seoul, he meets his childhood neighbor Hye-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), a mysterious, slightly flirtatious young woman, and the two begin a brief romance. When Emi returned from a trip to Africa, she took another man with her.
The actor Steven Won, who starred in The Walking Dead, played the mysterious Ben in his first Korean film – he is a very wealthy man with an impeccable calmness and noble temperament, but also a sense of emptiness. As the film progresses, he begins to become more and more sensitive and suspicious, causing Zhong Xiu and the audience to speculate that he may actually be a serial killer.
What's amazing about Burning is not just the great storyline, but also the techniques it demonstrates. Li Cangdong transcends the boundaries of the typical serial killer mystery and explores the modern state of social alienation in one silent moment after another.
From wealth inequality to gender relations and politics, Burning is a film that largely reflects the present, but also transcends the currents of the times, just like Faulkner's work or Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
At last month's Toronto International Film Festival, I sat down with Lee and his translators to talk about Burning, how to create a film entirely around unsolvable mysteries, and how those mysteries reveal the world around us.
Reporter: On the surface, this movie is just a serial killer story, but in fact you put a lot of ideas into it. What motivates you to use this plot to explore political, gender, and economic issues?
Lee: As you know, this movie is based on Haruki Murakami's short story, and there's a little mystery in the story that isn't solved, and I think the fact that it doesn't answer shows that the story is not just about solving the mystery, but that the mystery can be extended to other, bigger mysteries —life or the mystery of the world we live in.
It is difficult to find out what the source of the misery and suffering that people feel today is. The reasons may be political, economic, or related to economic or gender inequality. There can be many different reasons, and that's where the mystery of life lies.
The film is very ambiguous about what's going on in it, and when things aren't clear, you put the audience in really the same situation as the characters. And the film isn't short, even a little long, how do you find the shape and ambiguity that belongs to the film?
Li Cangdong: If this is a typical mystery, then the film doesn't really need to be that long, but I want to create a specific film experience for the audience – there are many layers to explore, and the process and specific details of uncovering these layers.
I want the audience to experience the story and the film itself, how the mysteries of the world become the narrative in the story and the film, and how the film conveys the mysteries of the world to the audience.
Reporter: I'm also curious about Steven Yuan's casting, what is the purpose of choosing an American actor to play this role?
Lee: Steven is also famous in South Korea. People are familiar with his image in The Walking Dead, his personality is very kind, there is a certain similarity with the image of Ben in the film, and there is also a hidden temperament to become a serial killer. I think Steven's own two-sidedness and its own two-sidedness would fit well.
So part of the reason is his image as a movie star, the imagination that the audience assumes when they see him appear?
Li Cangdong: All of this is very important in casting. The inherent image of the actors, and the potential they carry that may not yet be discovered.
Steven in particular, if you know "Jade", it is actually the first Korean movie he has ever starred in, but "Burning" is his first time starring in a Korean movie, so I will definitely consider these questions.
Obviously, the film deliberately presents multiple interpretations of Ben's behavior, but I'm curious how you developed this gradually through the plot and the photography.
Lee: Even before filming started, Steven and I had a lot of discussions about the character, and fortunately, Steven understood the role better than I expected. In fact, the root cause behind all of Ben's actions can be found in the emptiness and emptiness of his heart, no matter who Ben really is, whether he is a serial killer or not.
Steven understands the argument about the underlying causes behind the characters' behavior. We talk a lot about the balance that has to be achieved in every shot, scene, and paragraph. For each shot, you can go in both directions, and you have to think about balance every time you turn on the camera.
We talked a lot throughout the process. Even in the last shot of the film, we talk a lot about what Ben's feelings and emotions should be at that particular point in time, and we discuss several possibilities.
Of these options, some go beyond the simple arguments he might make for it, but have a more philosophical basis. It's not that we need to communicate all of this to the audience, but we need to discuss it ourselves.
Reporter: The role of Emi is also very interesting and very ambiguous. You have no idea why she did those things. Her colleague has a great line: "There's no country in the world for women." I'm interested in what attracts you to creating such a character and expressing something that is worldwide — or maybe especially belonging to Korean women.
Li Cangdong: "There is no country suitable for women." This sentence is just a direct comment I want to express. But as far as the character of Emi is concerned, her image in the film is intentionally constructed.
On the surface, she may just be a missing woman in an ordinary thriller, or one of the victims of a serial killer, but in another sense, she is actually the key to the whole movie. Because depending on who she is and why she's such a person, the interpretation of the whole movie changes.
If Jong-so and Ben represent the younger generation —whether poor, desperate, or wealthier—if they can represent the younger generation, then Hye-mi is the same. She is part of a younger generation who have been trying to find meaning in life.
Is that what you see in the younger generation — in a state of disorientation and looking for meaning?
Li Cangdong: I do see that the world seems to have changed today. In the past, there were always problems in society, whether or not they were related to social status, economic inequality, and other factors.
But at that time, people believed that there was something, like an entity, that you could fight to make things better. But the modern world is ostensibly more gorgeous and convenient than ever, but inequality is getting worse and the helplessness and frustration of young people is worsening.
The younger generation begins to think that the reason is in themselves, that it is their fault that caused the situation. It also triggered their inner anger.
Donald Trump appears in your film, do you think that represents something that should be fought against, or is it just more despair?
Lee: Donald Trump can represent some of the things you fight against, but this movie is more about mystery. It's like zhong xiu getting a call in the middle of the night, you don't know who called.
It's a mystery in everyday life, as is Trump, who has been on TV, and so is the North Korean propaganda we hear about in movies.
It's part of everyday life. Politics is part of everyday life. It is something you can't see, but it's always in control of your life. So there must be something wrong, it's just that we just can't see it, even though it's part of everyday life.
Reporter: And there's a kind of oppression.
Li Cangdong: It is indeed oppressive, but many people do not think it is mysterious. But political and economic problems are ultimately mysterious, like phone calls at night.