I’ve watched the pivotal opening scene in Burning a couple of times now, the part that foreshadows and describes the entire movie; and I think I finally figured it out.

First, there is a scene about miming the act of eating a tangerine, but the important tidbit is that in order to be successful; you don’t have to believe that there is a physical tangerine, just that it tastes yummy. I think this describes the relationship that the girl has with the poor guy. She believes that she can rely on him/he is her BF (even if he doesn’t think of it like this), so it makes his later words to her even more hurtful.

Then the discussion quickly changes to little and great hunger. Little hunger is the hunger you feel when you if you haven’t eaten, but great hunger is hunger for life. I think this describes the rich guy and his quest to find meaning in his life when all the basics are taken care of.

Finally, as a bonus, the girl asks the poor guy to take care of her cat, saying a cat shouldn’t be moved from their home. I think this is meant to describe the poor guy who just isn’t able to comprehend the changes that are about to happen around him.

Even with this theory, still a great movie!

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: ideas, moviereview