I haven’t seen the trailer, but I’m not posting it here since it apparently contains too many spoilers. From Letterboxd:
After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.
Ratings
- RT: 99%/91%
- IMDB: 7.9
- MC: 93/8.4
Recognition
- 2018 Palme D’or: Cannes Film Festival
- Best Film: Asian Film Awards 2019
- Picture of the Year, Director of the Year, Screenplay of the Year, Outstanding Actress (Sakura Ando), Outstanding Supporting Actress (Kirin Kiki), Outstanding Music, Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Lighting Direction: Japan Academy Prize 2019
CW: Child Abuse (offscreen)
Burning is the best east asian film about class conflict of the late 2010s, and it isn’t close.
amazing film but “family, class and East Asia” probably describes countless films and the last description seems a bit racist
I know it walks the line of that interpretation, but a more favorable interpretation to me would be “one of several recent films from East Asian directors that highlight the class struggles in their countries”. Of course South Korea and Japan are two very different countries, and it would be racist to naively lump them together. At the same time they both have similarities in their struggles with capitalism, and I think that relating the two films is one way to highlight that. I do know that I watered it down more than that in the title, but I guess I hoped that I’d get the benefit of the doubt on it. I just saw it as a shorthand way to relate the film to something our comrades might be more familiar with.
I liked it a lot, but I can’t tell you much about it I think it’s been 2 years since. It has more feel-good moments than parasite I think, but it’s also mostly sad, biggest similarity being the real consequences of capitalism. Idk if they’re that similar really, maybe it got that reputation because it’s another poor Asian family doing their best and being cool
Absolutely one of the best films of recent years and Hirokazu Koreeda is great pretty much always.
Checked out the trailer, immediately pirated it.
