20 Amazing South Korean Movies You Must See Before You Die
4. Burning
Released in 2018, Lee Chang-dong's first film in eight years was also perhaps his best and certainly the one that received the most widespread international acclaim, seen by many critics as one of the films of the decade.
Adapted from a short story by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, Burning is a psychological mystery centering on a sensitive poor country boy and wannabe novelist, the girl he has a thing for, and her worldly, wealthy new friend (the latter played by Korean-American Walking Dead star Steven Yeun with an alien detachment born of the character's privilege).
Then the girl just disappears without a trace.
An enigmatic and ambiguous movie, Burning is on the one hand a character study about frustration, envy, masculinity, and class divides, on another a woozy, uneasy mood piece, and on yet another an intricately crafted mystery story that plays out in subtle undertones that repay rewatching.
The film is a slow burn, but beautifully crafted drama which builds to a conclusion that is at once shocking and yet fitting to what has come before.