South Korean director Lee Chang-dong's new film "Burning" was once the favorite of the Palme d'Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. The Korean-American actor Steven Yeun, who played Ben in the film, presented us with a genius performance. His inadvertent yawns and winks perfectly represent a young man who regards nihilism as his philosophy of life.
He plays a wealthy playboy in the film who takes pleasure in burning barns. Seven years after the American TV series "The Walking Dead", Steven Yeun's performance added a confusing atmosphere to "Burning".
Part of Steven Yeon's genius in "Burning" stems from his special identity: an American actor with Korean blood. His identity and temperament perfectly express the mystery of the character and the cosmopolitanism without sustenance. In the film, he always wanders between scenes with a cold and sinister detachment.
The following text is excerpted from an interview with Steven Yeun by Movie Review reporter Devika Girish.
What was it like to work with director Lee Changdong?
I was impressed by the way Lee Chang-dong made movies. I don't know what he was like when he was doing "Mints" or anything, but when he was doing "Burning" he was very improvised. He followed exactly the steps of the movie itself. A lot of times, we're ready to shoot a scene, the camera is set up, but the director doesn't shoot it, saying, "It doesn't feel right today." And then after many days, we were back to the same scene, and suddenly a flock of snow geese came flying, and he would say, "This is what I'm looking for!". It's such a cool way to make a movie. I don't know if there are directors other than Lee Changdong who can do this.
Your character is a mystery in itself. Haruki Murakami's original book and movie did not explain much about the background of this character. How did you prepare for the character? Do you understand this character?
I think I understand him. The director didn't give me very clear directions. He told me, "We pick the moments when we can perceive Ben, but I don't know what kind of person he is. The mystery of the ending is really whether Ben is a bloodthirsty pervert or just amoral. Rich. You decide." That's cool to me, because only I know what Ben does.
While preparing for this role, I read a lot: Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Nihilism, etc. I feel like Ben lives in such a world. As someone with so much wealth and privilege, he actually lives a completely different life from the rest of the society. This is my approach: what is a man like when he believes nothing? He is burning, what is it?
It's all reflected in his body language, the way he walks and sits with a sense of lethargy. He felt that everything was irrelevant, so he was never in a hurry to get somewhere. He just exists somewhere. Why does he have to live? He didn't know it himself. He's just not interested in anything.
Ben wasn't hiding anything at all, he was just empty, a dangerous and sad emptiness.
I think a lot of people feel that way. For me, the beauty of Lee Changdong's films is that he sets up a mirror to the society, "see what you look like". What impressed me most about "Burning" was how lonely everyone was. Even if you have the wealth of the world, you are still lonely. For me, while this loneliness has always been there, it is especially acute in this day and age.
Are you talking about the current political and economic environment?
right. I feel like we're on the brink of a cliff right now, wondering how far we're going to go in the internet world. For director Lee Chang-dong, choosing a Korean-American actor like me who has too much American elements in his body was a risky one, and it was also very suitable for the theme of the film itself. In recent years, all the lines that once separated us seem to have disappeared. But I think the new generation of young people is actually very lost and very lonely.
We don't know where Ben comes from, which separates him from the other two characters.
Of course. Ben doesn't necessarily represent America, or the Western world, but he represents someone who sees the world honestly, or has the privilege of seeing most of it. Children in South Korea are now trying to find themselves, express themselves, and be themselves. In the Western world, "being yourself" is deeply rooted in the bone marrow, and now I feel like we want to find ethnicity. The western world increasingly wants to find some collectivism, and the eastern world wants more and more individualism. It's really a question of balance. Director Lee Changdong and I often talk about this balance.
"Okja" integrates your identity well, but in "Burning", you are closer to your own Korean blood, do you think this is more real?
I don't know why, but I feel a little sad about this. But you are right, I think this kind of truth comes from the depth and breadth that the director gave me. He allowed me to spread my wings as wide as possible without conforming to any kind of social structure. Playing a Korean through and through means that I, as an actor, go and play a character, and I'm no longer restricted by anything.
Playing Ben, who looks at life with an "outsider" eye, also gives me the greatest freedom. It's a very real experience. When I see the world in the same light as Ben, with nihilism as my focus, the energy of the body changes.
I sometimes wonder if American cinema is a little short-sighted because we don't really recognize films from other worlds and their living cinematic culture. Does your involvement in Lee Chang-dong's films draw attention to the fact that diversity doesn't necessarily exist only in American films, but in what we recognize as film culture?
indeed. That's why I feel lucky to be part of The Burning. As we move into a more cosmopolitan age, we can no longer be conceited that our own cinematic world is the only cinematic world, and that our own experience and the way we digest culture is the only way to experience it. These discussions of identity sometimes feel exhausting to me. Not because I don't think it's important, but because I feel like a lot of the talk is around American identity. If I want to be more cosmopolitan and live in a globalized world, then I should embrace other cultures.
These are the experiences I gained while working in and out of Korea, and I won't do it again in the future. My future career should be concentrated in the United States, and I will be more comfortable here. But a lot of the time it's like that, where I'm not so open and tolerant, the roles I can play may still be limited by how I look. There are psychopaths everywhere in the world, but why can I only play one in Korea?
What role do you want to play next? I hear you are very picky right now.
Do you all think so? Hahaha no! I was lucky to be able to relieve it a little bit. Being involved in a good movie means I can slow down my pace. In the two or three years since I left The Walking Dead, I hardly ever filmed. I just had a baby, so I want to stay home now.
Which directors do you want to work with in the future?
Much. I like Denis Villeneuv, Park Chan-wook...
Translation and finishing: Yuuki
The original translation was posted on the WeChat public account: Blue Movies
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