History Film / Burning2018

* LoveTriangle: The relationship that developers between Jong-su, Hae-mi and Ben.

* AbusiveParents: Jong-su's father has a severe anger disorder that causes him to have violent outbursts. It caused Jong-su's mother to leave the family and take his sister with her, and eventually leads to his own arrest when he violently assaults a government worker. Jong-su mentions an incident soon after his mother left, where his father forced him to take all of his mother's clothes out of the house and burn them on a huge bonfire, traumatizing him for life.

* AmbiguousEnding: We see Jong-su writing in a computer in Hae-mi's apartment right before it cuts to a scene in Ben's perspective (throughout the whole movie the focus is mostly in Jong-su) and then the last scene, in which [[spoiler: Jong-su stabs Ben]], leaving the implication that it could be just Jong-su fantasizing of [[spoiler: avenging Hae-mi supposed murder]].

*** Does Boil exist? Jong-su never sees the cat after weeks of feeding him in spite of Hae-mi's apartment being tiny. We conspicuously never see Boil's food or litter bowl after the first time Jong-su checks them, so the viewer cannot compare whether the levels are changing between his visits. Hae-mi's neighbor insists that pets aren't allowed in the apartment, but Hae-mi could be breaking the rules. The fact that Ben's stray seems to answer to the name Boil might suggest that it's him, but it might have just been a coincidence. Hardly any real housecats answer to their name.
*** Did Hae-mi fall down a well? Jong-su doesn't remember finding her like she claims. Her family says that no well was near their house, and if it had happened, they'd have known about it, but it's possible that it was kept from them or they were ignoring her. They don't seem fond of her. Another neighbor also doesn't remember a well being in the area. Jong-su's mother, however, remembers a dry well being near her house, which might explain why no one else knew about or remembered it.

*** Hae-mi vanishes inexplicably. She leaves all her possessions behind, including her suitcase, so it's unlikely that she took a trip. Her cat is gone, but it might never have existed. Her apartment has been thoroughly cleaned, which Jong-su says is unlike her, given that she made no effort to do so before going to Africa. It's possible that she was murdered, and Ben straightened her bedroom to remove all trace of him and stole her cat as a trophy. It's also possible she skipped town, given that she had debts and no friends except Ben and Jong-su, but you would think that she'd take more possessions with her. Ben says that she thought Jong-su was the only person on her side, and the last thing he said to her was hurtful, so she might even have committed suicide given her mental health issues, which might explain her out-of-character cleanliness.

** The pink watch. [[spoiler: Jong-su gives it to Hae-mi at the beginning of the film, and finds it in the possession of Ben well after she's disappeared. This one of several clues that convince Jong-su that Ben killed her]].

* CommieLand: The farm is very close to the DPRK border. Loud propaganda can often be heard at night.

* CreepySouvenir: [[spoiler: Ben keeps small items such as bracelets, watches, and earrings in a secret box in his bathroom, which are implied to be from the women he's murdered. When Jong-su visits after Hae-mi's disappearance, he finds the pink watch he gave to her in there, convincing him that Ben killed her. Ben also apparently adopts her cat]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Ben tells metaphor to Hae-mi early in the movie, which she doesn't understand, and then asks Jong-su to explain her, but he ignores their whole conversation. Later up in the movie Ben tells Jong-su about his hobby of burning abandoned greenhouses which he understands literally. [[spoiler: In reality it seems to be a metaphor for killing lonely women.]]

* TheOner: Hae-mi's NudeNatureDance is filmed in one continuous take.
* PartingWordsRegret: Jong-su berates Hae-mi for taking her clothes off so easily around other men, which hurts her feelings. She disappears soon after.
* PoliceAreUseless: Ben claims that it's easy to burn down greenhouses in Korea because of this.

* SerialKiller: [[spoiler:Although it is never confirmed beyond a doubt, the film strongly hints that Ben might be one. Evidence for this include his LackOfEmpathy, the fact he seems to date a very specific type of women (young and naïve individuals from the lower classes with no social and familial ties and whose disappearance is unlikely to be noticed or reported to the authorities), a drawer in his bathroom containing numerous, clearly feminine trinkets (implied to be trophies taken from previous victims), and his strange monologue about burning greenhouses, in which he admits that he has a fixed routine (he only does it once every two months) and describes the act of "burning" (i.e, killing) as the only thing that truly makes him feel alive]].

* UnexplainedAccent: Ben's Korean sounds completely different than the other characters'. This is because Steven Yeun is not a native Korean speaker, having left Korea when he was five and growing up in the United States. Given that Ben has a western name, he might share Yeun's background, but we get no furthers clues about his background.

* VomitIndiscretionShot: Jong-su vomits after [[spoiler: stabbing Ben to death at the end of the film]].

*** Hae-mi vanishes inexplicably. She leaves all her possessions behind, including her suitcase, so it's unlikely that she took a trip. Her cat is gone, but it [[AmbiguousSituation might never have existed]]. Her apartment has been thoroughly cleaned, which Jong-su says is unlike her, given that she made no effort to do so before going to Africa. It's possible that she was murdered, and Ben straightened her bedroom to remove all trace of him and stole her cat as a trophy. It's also possible she skipped town, given that she had debts and no friends except Ben and Jong-su, but you would think that she'd take more possessions with her. Ben says that she thought Jong-su was the only person on her side, and the last thing he said to her was hurtful, so she might even have committed suicide given her mental health issues, which might explain her out-of-character cleanliness.

* WhatNowEnding: [[spoiler: Jong-su stabs Ben to death, and burns him inside his Porsche along with his bloodstained clothes. We see a naked Jong-su climb into his truck and start driving away, and the movie just sort of... ends]].

* SoMuchForStealth: Lee Jong-su stalks Ben, who lives in a wealthy neighbourhood, driving an ugly truck. Ben spots him once, but most of the time he doesn't seem to notice.

* ForgottenChildhoodFriend: Jong-su allegedly helped rescue Hae-mi from a well when they were children, only to forget about her when they both grew up. He also forgot that he ever called her ugly, if he did.

* FanDisservice: None of the sex and nudity in the film is particularly enticing.

* AdaptationalKarma: [[spoiler:In ''Literature/BarnBurning'', the Ben character faces no consequences and likely continues to murder women with impunity for years. Even the narrator doesn't admit to himself what really happened. Here, Jong-su kills Ben after becoming convinced he killed Hae-mi, though it's never explicitly confirmed if he did.]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Lee Jong-su masturbates several times in Shin Hae-mi's place while she's in Africa, as he misses her.

*** Hae-mi vanishes inexplicably. She leaves all her possessions behind, including her suitcase, so it's unlikely that she took a trip. Her cat is gone, but it [[AmbiguousSituation might never have existed]]. Her apartment has been thoroughly cleaned, which Jong-su says is unlike her, given that she made no effort to do so before going to Africa. It's possible that she was murdered, and Ben straightened her bedroom to remove all trace of him and stole her cat as a trophy. It's also possible she skipped town, given that she had debts and no friends except Ben and Jong-su, but you would think that she'd take more possessions with her. Ben says that she thought Jong-su was the only person on her side, and the last thing he said to her was hurtful, so she might even have committed suicide given her AmbiguousDisorder, which might explain her out-of-character cleanliness.