During the post-screening Q&A at Fantastic Fast for Burning, South Korea’s submission for the Oscars, I took a second to ask Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) what might be lost in translation for American audiences.
While my question was hoping to learn a new interpretation of a single line of dialogue that’s not properly captioned in English, his response told much more.
The whole movie is a slow burn for 150 minutes, following Jong-su (Ah-In Yoo), a recent college graduate with dreams of becoming a novelist as he works odd jobs and rekindles a relationship with a childhood neighbor, Hae-mi (played by newcomer Jong-seo Joon). The two go on a couple dates and he’s asked to watch her cat — which may or may not exist, as Jong-su never actually sees it and jokes it’s invisible — while she’s on a trip to Africa.
Hae-mi returns obsessed with the culture, even days later performs a ritual dance she encountered. But not only did she bring back a new found spirituality, she’s back with Ben (Steven Yeun). He’s confident and suave, everything that Jong-su isn’t.
Oh, he’s also rich. You can imagine how humbling it is once he sees Ben take Hae-mi home in his Porsche.
This is where Yeun’s input after the screening comes in. There’s a quiet sense of rage brewing in Jong-su. While it may be a universal, male trait especially against the struggling socio-economic backdrop set up by director Lee Chang-dong, the brewing anger and curiosity is a deeply Korean theme.
That plays right into the film’s setting near the North Korean border (DMZ). Yeun explained that the closer to the border, the more turmoil and personal the conflict. His mother grew up further away from the DMZ and has her own issues there, but his father-in-law has an extremely complicated relationship being from an area near the border like Jong-su is, struggling with his relationship with his incarcerated father.
There’s a rare sense of constraint from Yoo’s portrayal, especially as he gets further frustrated by the sudden disappearance of Hae-mi, targeting Ben as a suspect. There’s never a confrontation between the two, just a mounting mystery paired with Ben and Jong-su’s unique outsiderness.
Part of what plays into the relationship so well is Yeun’s casting. Ben is clearly out of place sitting in his Gangnam apartment compared to the blue collar life of Jong-Su and Have-mi. Yeun’s cadence is just so slightly off and cosmopolitan as a Korean-American playing a Gatsby-esque character compared to the more worn-in characters around him.
Whatever the case, Yeun and Yoo’s pairing makes for one of the most unique and dazzling pairings of the year. Whether’s it’s the two sharing a blunt, watching Hae-mi dance into the sunset, or exchanging hidden glances and meeting at a tea shop, there’s a strong magnetism on screen at all times. All else fades in the background as they survey each other, digging for each other’s secret, consuming Jong-su with a deep obsession both of Ben and Hae-mi.
You may leave Burning with a sense of frustration both in its conclusion and the required patience, but the execution down to the noir-inspired score and its free-flowing camera are without flaw. It’s an adaptation that truly modernizes — if not improves upon — its source material.
Overall Grade: 8.5 out of 10
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