96

I have been anticipating this film for months, but it never played anywhere near me. Burning did not disappoint and is one of my absolute favorite films of 2018. The plot takes the meme You vs. The Guy She Told You Not To Worry About to the whole next level. Probably Lee Chang Dong's best effort yet. As soon as it ended I was already excited to watch this again. It's a mystery box and I haven't found all the clues yet. Definitely plan on purchasing a Blu-Ray as soon as it becomes available.

I love the feeling of watching a masterpiece, and it's been a while since I've seen something that completely absorbed all of my attention directly to the screen. I think a big part of it comes down to Hong Kyung-pyo's (The Wailing, Mother, Snowpiercer) breathtaking cinematography. The stoned sunset one-take dance sequence from Hae-mi was genuinely inspired filmmaking and one of the best scenes from last year. This has been criticized for the second act losing a lot of the steam from it's set up but I couldn't disagree more. The cat-and-mouse mind games that start playing out are exciting to watch unfold. Leading to a most satisfying climax. It's hard to stick a landing, but this lands right on the bullseye.

Highly recommended.

2018