Burning
A masterpiece by Lee Chang-dong.
The film left me with various contemplations and questions. How did Jong-su and Hae-mi fall in love so fast? Do they represent the missing pieces of each other that attracted them? Does the well truly exist? Did Ben kill Hae-mi? Or was everything just Jong-su's hallucination? No wonder this was based on Murakami's writing.
The film, for me, is portrayed as a picture of the apathy and aimlessness of the Korean society. Hae-mi is eager to find her a path, an ultimate goal. Jong-su can't and don't know what to write for his first novel cause the world is too vague for him, he is like the product of an apathetic society, raised without proper care and influenced by his father's toxic traits. Though he said that he hated his father himself but in fact he is gradually becoming him. And Ben represents elite class, remain indifferent, views life a game—unlike the other two characters, who are constantly struggling to make a living. Ben can do anything he want, smoke weed, even burn greenhouses without a trace of fear cause the police will never notice such tiny little small cases like this, a brilliant metaphor for the apathy cause it only take less than 10 minutes to burn everything down and leave no trace, just like eliminating the lower class.
The moment Jong-su ends Ben's life is synonymous with his desire to end class hierarchy, and how he leaves the clothes behind and let it burn with the Porsche just like a final release of all the rage he has been suppressing which is the only true time that he expresses a single emotion.