Burning(2018)
dir. Lee Chang-dong
A class-war thriller where nobody gets proof.
Where to watch: MUBI, Kanopy, Hoopla, plus free with ads on Tubi/Roku/Pluto; rent $2.99-3.99 (JustWatch US)Letterboxd ↗
Jong-su, a young delivery worker and aspiring writer, runs into Hae-mi, a neighbor from his childhood. She goes on a trip and comes back with Ben, a rich and charming man who tells Jong-su his hobby is burning down greenhouses. Then Hae-mi vanishes. Lee Chang-dong adapts a Murakami story into a slow thriller about class, envy and what you can prove.
Why it’s here
The film turns class rage into a mystery that never resolves, which is how class often works. What's punk is that the poor man is the one telling the story and nobody believes him. What's pedagogical is how much the film shows without saying. It's 2.5 hours, slow, and ambiguous on purpose. Close relative: Parasite, which is in the suggestion log.
Where This Film Lives
- Setting
- South Korea
Read Alongside
Books that share a topic, theme, or setting with this film.
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett
Inequality makes everyone worse off, rich included.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Banned Book Club
Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada (art by Ko Hyung-Ju)
A secret reading group. A dictatorship. Real arrests.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Hand to Mouth
Linda Tirado
Why do poor people make bad choices? She was one. Here's why.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Human Acts
Han Kang
The Gwangju massacre. Six voices. The state that buried them.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Cho Nam-Joo
One woman's life. Every woman's system.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Molka
Monika Kim
A leaked video destroys her life. The system shrugs. She doesn't.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Please Look After Mom
Kyung-Sook Shin
A Korean mother goes missing. Her family realizes they never knew her.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Island of Sea Women
Lisa See
Jeju's women divers. A massacre. A friendship broken for sixty years.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST