Burning an ingeniously involving psychological drama

Burning is made up of unworldly, transfixing and often unforgettable stuff. The deeper you immerse yourself, the more you find yourself combing over your recall of certain scenes for a key detail you may have missed.

The flight path taken by this ingeniously involving psychological drama from South Korea glides to such dizzying altitudes across its (very lengthy) running time that it almost does not matter when it runs out of narrative runway upon landing.

Almost.

For an ending that does not work could be a source of frustration for viewers who have invested so much in the eerily enigmatic journey taken by Burning. Consider yourself warned.

The story so selectively told here amounts to a simple echo of The Great Gatsby, but an irresistibly resounding one all the same.

READ MORE:

HELLBOY MAKES YOU WONDER -WHEN WILL IT END?

HORROR FLICKS TO HIDE FROM THIS WEEKEND

WHAT TO STREAM OVER EASTER

The story so selectively told in Burning amounts to a simple echo of The Great Gatsby

Jong-soo (Yoo Ah-In) is a young writer who has just moved to the South Korean capital Seoul, and has immediately fallen for a former classmate from his village school

Jong-soo (Yoo Ah-In) is a young writer who has just moved to the South Korean capital Seoul, and has immediately fallen for a former classmate from his village school.

While Jong-soo barely remembers Haemi (Jun Jong-seo) from back then, she soon becomes all he can think about.

Doubly so when she suddenly vanishes without trace after becoming the girlfriend of a mysterious man of means, Ben (Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead).

To say that Jong-soo is rattled by Haemi’s disappearance is a drastic understatement. As for Ben, he barely acknowledges the absence.

What follows (until that problematic ending) is unworldly, transfixing and often unforgettable stuff.

After Haemi’s disappearance, what follows is unworldly, transfixing and often unforgettable stuff.

The deeper you immerse yourself in the unusually static atmosphere of Burning, the more you find yourself combing over your recall of certain scenes for a key detail you may have missed.

Much of the intrigue that builds to immense levels during the movie is drawn from the ethereal living riddle that is Haemi.

To the untrained eye, she is capriciously carefree in nature. However, once Haemi is gone — was it by her own design, or someone else’s? — every little thing she said and did seems beholden to keeping a dark and dangerous secret.

BURNING (M)

Rating: Three and a half stars (3.5 out of 5)

Director: Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine)

Starring: Yoo Ah-In, Jun Jong-seo, Steven Yeun.

Chilled by an old flame

For all things movies, follow Leigh on Twitter @leighpaatsch

Originally published as Burning an ingeniously involving psychological drama