NOMADENKINO heute 21.00 Burning

Two childhood friends, both raised near Seoul, meet again by chance after years. They go for a drink together and remember earlier. She has studied pantomime and shows him something. He reacts as if enchanted and falls in love. He is amazed at the illusion. It explains to him that whenever he desires something, he could create it this way. Everyone in Burning desires something in the most fervent way. The young man is called Jongsu (Ah-in Yoo). He dreams of becoming a writer. The girl's name is Haemi (Jong-seo Jun). At first he doesn't recognize her at all. "Plastic surgery"; grins Haemi. They have sex and he agrees to feed her cat while she travels to Africa. A cat we never see, by the way. Does the cat even exist? Longingly, jongsu waits for Haemi's return. She doesn't return alone, but accompanied by Ben (Steven Yeun). Ben is cold and somehow empty. He experiences a big Porsche and his apartment is full of works of art. But there is something wrong with Ben, Jongsu finds. And what does Haemi actually mean to him and his rich friends? Nothing more than a pastime? Jongsu thinks Haemi is in danger... Burning takes place in a world full of blurred borders. Jongsu lives in a village near North Korea. A raid from the north threatens at any time. And the cat lives in the border area between being and non-being. Important in Burning are cupboards. Everyone has a closet with secrets. And fire. Above all Ben guards a strange secret with fire: He burns down other people's greenhouses. There is a permanent threat of danger in Burning, even if you can't locate it. It is difficult to even grasp a clear thought. "What is" and "What is not"? It never really becomes clear. Just like Haemi's pantomime. Nothing is as it seems. And Haemis cat? It was never there.