Burning
Mysterious thriller, based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, about a young man who grows suspicious about the motives of a deceptive interloper who is hanging around with his childhood friend-turned-burgeoning love interest.
After eight quiet years, Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine, Poetry) is back with another superb work. Mystery, thriller, and psychological drama, BURNING is a smouldering masterpiece. While jumping from job to job to support himself, Jong-su runs into Hae-mi, a childhood friend. The two start to grow fond of each other. Hae-mi asks Jong-su to look after her cat while she’s on a trip to Africa but when he goes to pick her up at the airport in his run-down truck, Jong-su is surprised to see her with another man. Ben claims he ‘plays’ for a living, drives a Porsche, and lives in a fancy apartment. He invites Jong-su and Hae-mi to his posh gatherings where Jong-su feels out of place but Hae-mi doesn’t seem uncomfortable at all. As Jong-su’s feelings for Hae-mi grow bigger, he feels threatened by Ben and starts to get suspicious about his rival’s motive towards Hae-mi. Then one day, Hae-mi vanishes, her cell phone disconnected, her messy apartment cleaned up, the cat nowhere in sight. (source: www.tiff.net)