Direct language can be deceiving. Haruki Murakami's stories seem beguilingly simple at first glance. Upon closer reading and it becomes clear that Murakami succeeds in capturing atmospheric oscillations and complex in-betweenness like no other. Yearning, waiting, doubting, loving. A series of filmmakers have failed in their attempt to make a suitable cinematic adaptation. Lee Chang-Dong has now made a congenial feature-length film that is as clear and compassionate as Murakami‘s distinctive writing style, juggling the uncertainties and meticulously capturing the changing states of his protagonists just as elegantly as the writer. BURNING has been nominated for over 100 film prizes and has won 35, one of them was last year‘s international critic‘s prize in Cannes.

Hendrike Bake