Layers of Ambiguity Fuel The Beautifully Filmed Thriller Burning (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS BELOW

Director Lee Chang-dong's newest motion picture Burning is a thriller, but it takes a little bit of time before it reveals itself as just that. At first, the audience is just following around aspiring writer Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) as he putters around in his day-to-day life doing deliveries to earn money as he tries nearly everything, including getting his neighbors to sign a petition, to ensure that his violent father doesn't get a harsh prison sentence. While going about his life, he runs into childhood friend Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) for the first time in ages. The two promptly go out for dinner where Shin reveals that she's about to go to Africa as part of her desire to fulfill her Big Hunger, a term meant to refer to a persons desire to find out their purpose in the universe. 

Sorry To Bother You But Sorry to Bother You Is Excellent

It's always a treat to watch a movie that feels so much like it's own one-of-a-kind creation, a movie that wears its own unique personality as proudly as one might do showing off an Olympic gold medal. Sorry To Bother You is one such movie, with Boots Riley, previously known for his vocal work in bands like The Coup, making his debut as a director here on this satirical dark comedy to remarkable results. Riley's exceptional work as a writer and a director here echoes numerous past great satirists, most notably cinematic satirists like John Carpenter and Paul Verhoeven, in how he uses the most absurd off-the-wall storytelling details to prop up thoughtful explorations of weighty social issues.