[KineJapan] "Burning" NHK Drama Special broadcast

[M Arnold]

I took a quick peek to compare the two versions, and sure enough the
NHK copy is heavily reedited with close to an hour cut. I didn't
compare everything, but parts of the second half are rearranged and
the early sex scene was of course drastically shortened (retaining
Jong-su's fascinating POV shots though). The TV version stops on what
looks like a proper ending shot, but it's a shot that comes ten
minutes before the credits roll in the full version. It is essentially
a different movie. How odd.

Happy new year, everyone!

Michael Arnold


On Sun, Dec 30, 2018 at 4:36 PM John Junkerman <jtj53213 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I had the very curious experience of watching NHK's broadcast of a "tokushu drama" version of Lee Chang-dong's "Burning" on Dec. 29 (10 pm Sat on NHK General channel). I was expecting to see the film (which is based on a Murakami Haruki short story) that won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes and has had a strongly positive response from critics, but what I saw was beautiful, inventive, very Murakami-esque in its oddly skewed and evocative slant on the pedestrian lives of its aimless characters, some hints of what critics raved about... but completely unengaging and unrewarding (it ended without an ending).
>
> Looking into it after the broadcast, it turned out that someone (NHK itself?) had cut 53 minutes from the film. Of course, this happens all the time after a film has finished theatrical release. The "drama special" was also dubbed...happens all the time, though it ruins the actors' performances.
>
> But why was this done a month before the film's theatrical release in Japan? Was this because NHK produced the film and has final cut, and the right to exploit it as it sees fit? I can't imagine that Lee directed this version, or signed off on it. I can't imagine Murakami did either.
>
> From what I understand, NHK has commissioned a number of leading Asian directors to make films based on Murakami's stories, and this is the first to be released. There's clearly a lot of juice behind the project (using hot Korean actors, and hot Japanese actors for the dubbing), but where are the director's rights in this equation?
>
> Some kind of hyping imperative seems to override the director's vision. To broadcast this chopped-up, incomprehensible version of a film, under its original title, with no apparent effort to let the audience know that it is not the same film--what were they thinking, if they were thinking at all?
>
> I'll look forward to seeing the original film when it is released in February, but I'd bet that a lot of those who watched the "drama special" won't bother, because they were left bored and perplexed.
>
> If anyone has heard some back story on all of this, I'd appreciate hearing it, because to me, it just flummoxes.
>
> --
> John Junkerman
> jtj53213 at gmail.com
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