Lee Chang Dong’s Movie Burning with Yoo Ah In and Steven Yuen Gets Highest Jury Grid Score in Cannes History
It’s too bad K-netizens are so negative on all three leads of the movie Burning as this is truly an accomplishment that Korean should be basking in. The movie got a score on the jury grid of 3.8, which is the highest for all movies screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but even more impressive is that the score is the highest ever for any movie screened at Cannes in its entire run. Starring Yoo Ah In, Steven Yuen, and newcomer Joon Jong Seo, the movie’s success rides on the well-received performance of the three leads but even more accolades are for famed South Korean director Lee Chang Dong‘s directing virtuoso in adapting a Haruki Murakami story “Barn Burning” into a riveting lyrical theatrical masterpiece. His preview movies include Secret Sunshine and Poetry, and he’s won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes before in 2010 for Poetry and of course Jeon Do Yeon won her Cannes Best Actress Award starring in his movie Secret Sunshine. At this rate Burning has a chance to win the Palm d’Or.
Feel like acclaimed film actors are the only ones who can give a big F U to the Knetz. They don’t need to rely on public opinion to land offers.
The problem is no matter how high the westerners rate the movie.It still needs to do well in Korean box office for it to be a hit.That could explain why Steven Yuen release about four apologies now.He was still apologising even at the cannes interview.If this is a commercial movie and not indie movie, then they need to hit those box office targets in Korea to recoup their production costs and investments.
If the public in their home country has so much distain for these three to the point where they dont even want to go and watch the movie at the cinema.Then they could end up lile Kim Min Hee(no domestic acknowledgement even after winning an international presrigious award) or Lee Byun Hyun( whose some of his movies flopped in the box office because the public was so mad at him).
But anyway..they got to earn their living.Nets will always be Nets.
Why the negative receptions on the leads?
same question for me, why the negative reception?
Steven Yuen because apparently he liked a childhood photo of his friend who happened to be wearing the Japanese rising sun on his T shirt. The bloke had to apologise like 4 times for the K Nets to be mollified
Yoo Ah In I imagine because he didn’t do military service, don’t know the ins and outs
Joon Jong Soo because she had a surly look and hid from reporters when she flew to Paris, noone is allowed to have a bad day.
Anyway hope it does well internationally, K Nets need to really get their twitter/instagram outrage in check.
In my opinion the reason for the K negativity:
Steven Yeun – Recent Controversy on liking an Instagram post somewhere that had the Japanese rising sun; Yoo Ah In because of his military exemption (due to being diagnosed with a bone tumour) and instagram posts (which I must add good on him for sticking up for himself) but of course he’s a celebrity and should remain muzzled and accept the psycho assertions made against him and newbie Joon Jong Seo; I guess because she’s ultra gorgeous and talented and hasn’t done the hard yards in K drama land to warrant the attention? I really don’t know sorry. But she does look fabulous on the red carpet too! They all do. Well done ?
Since I am not Korean, I don’t think I am in a position to comment right or wrong. However, I can understand their antagonistic feeling towards someone who likes the Japanese flag due to the pain they inflicted on them during the war.
He liked it because it’s a picture of his friend and not because of the flag.
In life sometimes money does not mean everything.
You can earn millions but in reality deep down you know that your movie is garbage.
Sometimes well done work and international recognition worth more than satisfy people with such prejudices.
I think it’s ultimately all a storm in a teacup, Lee Byung Hun had a smash hit movie after his scandal too (Inside Men) and even Kim Min Hee was nominated for and winning Korean awards for The Handmaiden even aftee her scandal went public.
“Inside Men” had a star studded cast. It was not just a Lee Byung Hun film.
Now some are saying (and many are agreeing) that they are more upset about him posting two different apologies in korean and English more than him ignorantly liking the pic. I’m just thinking pick one thing to raise up your pitchforks about.
Which Lee Byung Hun’s movies flopped ? Didnt Master and Inside Men did very well ?
IF KOREANS DON’T WANT YOO AH IN, EUROPE WOULD WANT HIM AND I’M PRETTY SURE, ONCE HE IS KNOWN, USA WILL TOO. HE IS AN AMAZING ACTOR. IN MY OPINION, THE BEST THEY HAVE.
Europe should focus first in deterring the right wing nationalism that’s rising its ugly head yet again. Europe has started two deadliest wars in humankind (aside from mass slavery and colonization) and Europe has had its hands in one of the most brutal genocides and women’s rights have been in the mud until the second world war and now Europe is so hard trying to pretend like it’s the pinnacle of civilisation. Will Europe want and accept a non-white foreigner then, in this economy? I’m not too sure. USA might start the third and the deadliest war in the universe, so Europe can get some slack. Not even brilliant minds of color get fully accepted, speaking from experience. Not to be too serious btw 🙂
sorry. no harm meant. maybe I should’n have spoken for an entire continent. I like him. I think he is a tremendous actor an Koreans should be proud of him.
Agree!!
your comments in capital letters stand out… but sounds kinda shallow… Obviously you don’t know how the European Union operates. A foreigner is always a foreigner, keep dreaming…
yoo ah in remain me with g dragon,like or not they are talented artists.
Gdragon even I respect his hardwork is anything but talented especially with his whiney voice when rapping
I beg to differ. GD is very talented, seeing how he wrote and composed one of the most iconic songs in Korean music scene by himself. I don’t care much for his voice either and I’ve heard better flows (to be honest, only Americans have mastered the art of rap, Tupac, Basquiat etc.), but as a songwriter producer, he’s one of a lind and you have to be deaf or not knowledgeable if you claim that that’s not talent.
His songs are for the most nothing to write home about in my opinion. I just can’t stand the sound, this electro-Yolo weird type. The worst is his voice whenever he raps. His latest song “Bullshit” was rightly named. He is a hardworker I’ll give him that and has written a lot. But quantity does not necessarly equals quality for me
@sirey, that’s your opinion and that’s fine. You can’t deny the ’Lies’ and ’Haru Haru’ brilliance though. Bigbang is not just your style.
Totally different dear. GD is more popular and loved than YAI in korea. Even after so many scandals involving him or his band mates in bigbang, they keep crushing the charts. Koreans just love and respect their music. While YAI, his previous drama in tvN didnt even do well. Although i loved that drama.
We cant compare both. At least GD went to military even tho he wasnt in a good condition. While YAI, he is still working tho.
When Steven Yuen’s character Glen in Walking Dead was given the flick that was it for me! I ended my love affair with that series right there and then. Didn’t give it a second thought. Then to read that he was to star in ‘Burning’ alongside one of my favourite K actors Yoo Ah In was a double bonus. Now it’s scored top marks at the Mecca of all film awards just validates the fact that Korea are amongst the best in international film making. The annual NZ International film festival always has a couple of K films to showcase and I’m counting on them to score this one in particular. Yes it makes sense that films that are internationally acclaimed would be hits back home; loved and well received but then again it’s Korea and their love/hate relationship with actors can actually make or break the reception of an cinematic masterpiece. But hey it’s their loss our gain. I’m hoping though it will be our loss BUT their gain. I always want Korean made dramas and films to do well domestically before anything else. We as international fans are just mere guests and Im just grateful to have a window of opportunity to witness this….for free so thank you ?
And also @sirey umm can you not diss GDragon on this site in particular? I do not want en masse VIP’s hitting us up. And I saw him in Auckland in August last year and he wasn’t winey at all in fact he was absolutely off the Richter scale with his performance. He was phenomenal. Therefore I think it must be your headphones or an early case of tinnitus.
i am sorry but i am not vip.
if not mistaken,g dragon once acted with Kim Hye Soo, on a TV show, and how he acted look like yoo ah in character in the veteran.
I don’t think gdragon is all that sorry but very overrated like the likes of justin, rihanna, miss generic songs beyonce, atrocious niki minaj. I give him that he is very hardworker as a producer but quantity does not equal quality ! Granted you saw him live -which I didn’t- and loved him but lord whenever I see a mv of BB or his solo his voice is so annoying !
YAI has to be the best actor of his generation. He takes on diverse projects and proceeds to exceed my expectations every time. I have followed his work for a many years and just knew he would end up at the largest and oldest film festival. He has that artsy aura to him. I am extremely happy his film is doing well and have been following his journey at Cannes. I hope Korea win’s their first Palm D’Or and becomes the first Asian film to win since Thailand’s Uncle Boonmee in 2010! Come on! It’s been too long! It’s been 9 years!!!
Winning a Palme d’Or is a big deal. Yoo Ah In is obviously a talented actor and I’ve only watched Steven Yeun in TWD but he’s good too. I’m not familiar with this director but I will watch his films now. It would be a great boost to both Steven and YAI. Idk about this rookie actress but I think she will stick to indies.
I might add that these ’controversies’ are rats fart in the big scheme. If the film is good, word of mouth is strong and gets good reviews, the film will succeed with its actors. Couple of people online writing this or that won’t matter at all because that’s how the internet works. Some people called for Black Panther boycott (mostly the alt right people on twitter) and look how Black Panther became the highest grossing film of the year so far.
lol are those the same people who called for boycotts of each of the new Star Wars movies too? Because they were mad that the main hero of those movies is female?
Looking at how The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi did at the box office, we should all pray for such “boycott” to be called against our faves movies too. Cannes or any of these film festivals really doesn’t give a shit about Korean hangups over public image.
Yeah, they are the same people. Social media outrage is just kids screaming and has nothing to do with reality if the end product is actually great.
Looking at the box office performance of all the new Star Wars movies and Black Panther, I can only pray for my faves’ movies to receive such a “boycott” lol.
That Black Panther boycott was an embarrassing fail especially as the big box office numbers kept coming out. You’d think people would learn openly boycotting a movie generally backfires.
Lee Chang Dong is a highly respected film director in Korea, but due to the nature of his films, the high-brow artsy films, consumed by limited audience and played in the art houses only, they didn’t do well in the box office. However, all his films are critically acclaimed, all of them won something/awards, and the actors in his films always won awards too. I don’t think Burning will be the box office, but that’s not what the movie/Lee aims.
Btw soompi is reporting that the Lee Jong Seok/Kim Ji Won drama they were considering is now cancelled since both of them turned it down lol. I’m relieved two good actors are not going to put themselves in the hands of a crappy writer even if I wanted a LJS/KJW reunion.
It’s just sad that’s Steven Yeun would have never in a million years had this sort of opportunity if he sat twiddling his thumbs while getting nonstop rejections for not having the “right look” for a role or only receiving castings for stereotypical characters in Hollywood land. Either way, this is the best addition an actor can have on his or her resume and I’m really happy for him.
I think if the film is one that is as good as it’s said to be while being appealing and acessible to film heads and the general public in Korea, it will do well as word of mouth spreads. Yoo Ah In and Steven Yeun will probably be fine in the long run but I think the female rookie actress will have a much harder time especially with the korean public. It’s just strange to me that people saw all those pics in the airport and thought, “ what a rude b*****!”, when to me it seemed obvious she was emotionally distraught and not in a strong enough mental place to hide it at that time. I’d understand the furor if she has had issues with her attitude in the past or had a known industry reputation.
Anyway congrats to the cast,
director, writer and crew, this is a great honor. I hope they can all just focus on their accomplishments for now after all their hard, talented work.
I find it highly ironic – bold it; italic it and underscore it too that the controversy that Steven Yeun has found him in (yes he made a lapse of judgement and was being absent minded and boy is he paying the price for it) when he liked a post that had the rising sun in it yet the movie is adapted from a highly esteemed and revered Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. I don’t get it so please excuse my ignorance but no one bats an eyelid. Yet they seem to feel free sending all their K pop idols and actors over for there for their concerts and promotional activities; again no one in Korea complains. Why would they? I mean they benefit financially from the exchange. It’s great and it’s business as usual. The Japanese are obliging and they’re happy Campers too. However there is a massive bug bear ‘the rising son’ symbol which rears its ugly head and pandemonium in Korea ensues. I don’t have any solutions to offer but I wanted to raise it here asTiffany suffered the same fate 2years ago; Ed Sheeran in February this year. So back to Steven Yeun; what a bittersweet experience for him. I hope he able to get through this fiasco mentally and emotionally intact.
Oops *sun*
Okay so a Japanese film Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku) took the Palm d’Or and Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman won the Grand Prix (which is like the second most prestigious award in Cannes Film Festival). The third prize went to the Lebanese film Capharnaüm by Nadine Labak. The best director award went to Pawel Pawlikowski for Zimna Wojna (Cold War), the best scriptwriter award went to Alice Rohrwascher for Lazzaro Felix.
so the winner is from the movie which same director with our little sister,congratulations!!, btw i like sakura ando too,after watch yutori dorama.
Burning went away empty handed despite the high score from critics.
“Burning” won the FIPRESCI top awards.
The award is judged by professional film critics and film journalist from all over the world.
It also won Vulcan award/technical award. So, it didn’t come home empty-handed. But I know Korean people are too judgmental towards the 3 leads, so although it’s highly appreciated abroad, it didn’t do well in Korea.
How come Shoplifter won the palm d’or when “Burning” ratings are better ?
The scores given by critics have no influence on the jury’s score.
Cannes is a festival with always an unpredicable palmares . I never thought that “burning” would win something ! The best actor is not even an actor but a social worker. To @Pretty autumn, i’m proud to live in my country ( France) ,it’s true that we also have dirt in our hands but can someone name one country wich doesn’t have ! I’m in a country where a mere comedian 30 years ago created ” Les restos du cœur) which every year feed and help million of persons in need … We have a social and medical protection … but thanks to some countries which are treating their people as slaves we are beginning to lose some of our rights !
Money, money, that’s all matters, they can produce movies about the problems in our society… but th thoese who have power and money doesn’t care and those who are suffering go to Watch Marvel movies because it’s too depressing ! Just my opinion based on my observation .
The (international) film critics/film journalists gave it a 3.8 .
The jury for the main Cannes prizes was headed by Cate Blanchett and 3 other actors including Kristen Stewart. There were 4 other directors and 1 songwriter in the jury.
it’s pretty sad that they totally ignore the scores from the critics even when it’s the best in the history of this festival.
What do you expect from the jury consisted of Kristen Stewart? lol sorry for being butthurt, but IMO she and Blanchett didn’t deserve the Cannes jury’s seat.