Thoughts on Burning - Caroline Huynh

 Do you feel it captures the atmosphere of the story?

I felt the movie captured the atmosphere of the story because it was mysterious and subtle just like the reading. However, I felt like the movie helped enhanced the underlying meaning of the story. I felt that making the two characters the same age with some love interest helped with the relationship between the two and made the relationship much deeper than in the story. We are able to see how Jong-Su is and his shifts in the movie such as his attachment to Hae-Mi and him going crazy after finding out that Ben killed her.

I felt that in the movie, it was more clear about the type of 'barns' that the boyfriend liked to burn. The 'greenhouses' in the movie, are people who don't have much meaning to life or any connections with anyone. Hae-Mi expresses how sometimes she wants to disappear and become nothing and that seems to fit what Ben was looking for. Ben also seems to choose females who have no real value to society but it is probably because in that way he won't get caught. However, when Ben implies that Hae-Mi was a great 'greenhouse' to burn but I am wondering was it because she had one real connection with someone besides him? I felt like Ben knew there was something in Jong-Su and he wanted that side of him to come out. I felt that Ben was playing dumb and he was also dropping a lot of major hints.

What Murakami themes and tropes did you notice, besides the plot elements of “Barn Burning”?

I noticed that the Jong-Su mentions the writer William Faulkner to Ben. In general, Murakami's stories are influenced by Western writers and William Faulkner being one as well. I felt that this mention from Jong-Su was a big hint to what Ben did to Hae-Mi. Some of scenes in the movie stood out to me like when Jong-Su was in front of the mirror and eating of pasta but I am not sure if there was any deeper meaning to those two scenes. I felt that Jong-Su was silgitly different in the mirror.

How did moving the story to Korea change it in your view?

I am not sure if there is a change in my view because the movie took place in Korea. I know the story changed by saying 'greenhouses' rather than 'barns' and the story took place in a smaller town that is not anywhere near as big as the city.

Did you enjoy the movie or not? Why, or why not?

I did enjoy the movie because I felt it had a lot of minor details that helped build up the story. The ending as well seemed like an interpretation of what the story left the atmosphere as. I was not expecting Jong-Su to end up killing Ben but I did feel like (even in the story) the main character knew who the boyfriend really was. In the movie, he acted on his emotions/resolved while in the short story, it left it open-ended. I felt the movie also portrayed their character really well because we were able to see more snippets of their lives and how they act.