BURNING
Lee Chang-dong | 2018 | South Korea | 2h28m | Korean with English subtitles
BURNING is loosely adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning,” which itself carries an echo of William Faulkner. Lee takes that literary starting point and makes it distinctly Korean, grounding the story in class resentment, economic frustration and the feeling that some people move through life with options while others remain trapped.
Jong-su is an aspiring writer from a struggling rural background. Hae-mi, a woman he knew when they were younger, suddenly reappears in his life. Then she returns from a trip with Ben, a wealthy, effortless stranger who seems to possess everything Jong-su does not. From there, BURNING slowly shifts from awkward romance into something far more unsettling.
Lee Chang-dong builds the film around what each of these three people sees in the others. Jong-su is drawn to Hae-mi but never fully understands her. Hae-mi seems to want escape, attention and a different life. Ben moves through the world with money, confidence and a detachment that Jong-su increasingly reads as threatening. That imbalance gives the film much of its tension before anything explicitly mysterious happens.
Class anxiety runs through a lot of modern South Korean cinema. Bong Joon-ho made it explicit in PARASITE, which I screened last week at FOMO, and in SNOWPIERCER, where class division is built into the structure of the train itself. MICROHABITAT (2017), also from South Korea, approaches economic insecurity from a smaller, more everyday angle. BURNING sits somewhere between those films, using Jong-su’s resentment toward Ben to expose the gap between people who move easily through money, leisure and opportunity and those who feel permanently shut out of that world.
Steven Yeun is especially good as Ben. For Western audiences who knew him mainly from THE WALKING DEAD, the casting was a sharp turn. He plays Ben with charm and restraint, never pushing the character into obvious menace. The less certain we are about him, the more disturbing he becomes.
And that uncertainty is the point. BURNING keeps presenting details that may be clues, coincidences or simply projections of Jong-su’s jealousy and frustration. The audience is kept guessing. Lee is asking us to question how much of what we are seeing is real, imagined or simply impossible to prove.
The film premiered in Competition at Cannes, won the FIPRESCI critics’ prize and quickly became one of the defining Korean films of the decade. Its reputation has only grown because it refuses easy answers while still delivering real tension. BURNING works as a thriller, a character study and a portrait of class anger without reducing any of those things to a simple message.
ABOUT ASIAN FILM WEEK
Asian Film Week is exactly the kind of programming FOMO exists for: major classics, cult discoveries and films you rarely get the chance to see on a cinema screen in Tbilisi. This week has been curated with Denis from Ukraine, a FOMO Film Club lifetime member with a real passion for Asian cinema, whose recommendations helped fill some gaps in my own knowledge and pushed the programme in directions I might not have reached alone.
A lot of care has gone into making the week feel broad, balanced and genuinely worth exploring. You’ll find landmark films from directors already well known in the West alongside stranger, more underground work that deserves a much wider audience. If Asian cinema is already your thing, I hope there are still a few surprises here. If it isn’t, I hope this week gives you a great place to start.
10% OFF FOOD, PLUS GROUP DEALS
Dinner before a film at FOMO is now sorted! We’ve arranged special offers with our two favourite places to eat in Bazari Orbeliani, both right next door to FOMO:
10% off at La Focacceria
20% off at Potato Factory
Potato Factory 2+1: buy two and get one free
Potato Factory 3+2: buy three and get two free
Simply show your Fienta ticket when ordering. You’re welcome to eat in the Sherekilebi Bar at FOMO Secret Cinema or upstairs at FOMO Open-Air Cinema. Tell them where you’ll be sitting and they’ll bring your food to you.
FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: SHEREKILEBI Bar in FOMO Secret Cinema opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 01:30, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol or drinks from outside are allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!
LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.
HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1
REFUND & CREDIT POLICY: If FOMO cancels a screening, all ticket holders will receive a full refund. If your plans change and you can no longer attend, we’ll issue you a credit for the value of your ticket, which can be used for any FOMO film screening within the following 30 days. Please notify us in advance so we can release your seat to another film fan.
TICKETS are also available at SHEREKILEBI Bar on arrival unless sold out.
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
