Actor Steven Yeun & director Lee Chang-dong on the profound mysteries of 'Burning'

'Burning' is an empathetic but unsparing study in human fragility and torment. Photo: GSC Movies

Early on in Burning, the gripping new psychological thriller from South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong, a shy, troubled young man named Jongsu (Yoo Ah-in) returns to a small farmhouse in the town of Paju, where he’s lived since childhood. President Trump can be seen and heard blaring from a TV in the background, a throwaway detail that becomes more disquieting when it’s revealed that Jongsu lives close to the border with North Korea.

Adapted and transplanted from a 1992 short story by Haruki Murakami, Burning is less about any geopolitical turmoil than it is about class privilege, youthful ennui and frustrated longing.