3/6/2020 - Burning - 6/10

Much like a new love, the beginning is intriguing and thrilling, but time and exposure leads to a weakening thrust, apathy and a withering luster. While fascinating in its incremental destabilizing, it didn’t maintain the thrill when it needed it the most. A good film when I expected a great film.

Aesthetically, it clicks, and the actors do a fine job of mixing the subtleties of Korean restraint with their idiosyncratic murmurs. Often the subtext is relied on too much, especially when repetition slams us into our temples, despite our protagonist scurrilously grasping at the straws of truth. His inability to latch on to the obvious rungs of the story's ladder turned the last quarter into a vain treadmill instead of a climb to a crescendo.

Visually, it can be striking at times, but that only takes you so far when it isn’t completely masterful. I can’t speak to the Murakami story it was based off of, because I have read other Murakami but not this one. Perhaps this would have clicked better with me on the page than it did on the screen. Or possibly all of the hype for this film was more than it could bear, seeing as it has been on my to watch list for 3 years at this point. No matter what it was, I found it an endearing and interesting film that loses its steam instead of capitalizing on its promise.