Judgement

   Many scenes remind me of Murakami's work in fairly direct ways, but that is one scene in particular that seemed like a deeper homage to Murakami's style. After Ben and Hae-mi pay a visit to Jong-su's home and enjoy a meal with drinks and pot, Hae-mi falls asleep. While Ben and Jong-su talk alone, Ben begins to open up to Jong-su talking about burning greenhouses. To me though, there is more to this dialogue than just a connection to Murakami's short story.

   Just like in Murakami's Barn Burning, where barns are thought of as waiting to be burned, Ben in the movie Burning talks about greenhouses asking him to burn them. In conversation with Jong-su, Ben opens up about why he burns greenhouses and talks about judgment. Comparing the burning of greenhouses to rain falling, something that is inevitable, Ben asks "you think the rain judges anything?"(1:17), following the question by stating that it isn't a matter of what's right or wrong but simply the laws of nature. In many ways, this sequence reminds me of Murakami's work. In A Wild Sheep Chase Boku infrequently judges others or judges situations in terms of what is right or what is wrong. He often submits to the situation around him and allows "nature" to run its course. But in his case, it is more supernatural or mystical than natural. To me, Boku and many of Murakami's protagonists take on the characteristics of rain as described by Ben. Something that just happens to be there, that follows a path, and that has little control and no emotion. As Ben says about greenhouses waiting to be burned in the movie, Boku doesn't "judge anything" he just "accepts it"(1:16). 

   Unlike in Barn Burning, this conversation happens at night. This reminded me of Boku's conversation in the darkness with the Rat. In the darkness personal boundaries seem to be lifted. Darkness in both stories is a strange liminal space where characters engage in ways they wouldn't normally. In A Wild Sheep Chase, the Rat says to Boku "you have to forgive me, but it has to be dark"(327). In a way, I think Burning putting this conversation in a dark setting is more effective than the equivalent in Barn Burning. I associate darkness with disassociation, I think this conversation needs to happen in a disassociated setting. Although both scenes use substances that could also act as disassociates, in my mind substances only affect sensory perception and affects people on an individual level. Darkness though affects the perception of senses, space, and time and can easily engulf multiple people. I think it is important that Ben and Jong-su shared the darkness.

   Many of Murakami's plots remind me of how Ben describes the overflowing rivers after these inevitable judgment-free rainfalls. He says "rain falls. The river overflows, causing a flood that sweeps people away."(1:17) following it with a laugh. In the case of A Wild Sheep Chase, the rain falling is Boku, his divorce, the photo from the rat, and other early chapter events. Once these individual droplets come together, the "river" overflows and it sweeps everyone up with it. The characters caught in Boku's path are dragged with him through the winding river of the plot and slowly free themselves from its flow as things are resolved and the river begins to dry up. I think comparing Murakami's plots to a river also works in that they often don't have a clear beginning or end, they start and finish while still flowing. 

  Overall I enjoyed the movie. There are so many instances that remind me of many of Murakami's works and style, but this scene in particular grabbed my attention and felt very familiar.     

Bergen