IF YOU LOVED THE U.K. “SKINS”, THAN THIS MIGHT INTEREST YOU…

Makoto Nagahisa returns to Sundance with his new movie BURN. If you took the show Skins, but set it in the streets of Japan and turned it into a nightmarish fever dream… you would get BURN. And being that Skins is one of my all-time favorite TV Shows, you would think that I would love this movie. Right?

WHAT IS “BURN” ALL ABOUT?

BURN follows a teenager named Ju-ju who runs away from her abusive mother and decides to live on the streets of Kabukicho. She meets a group of runaway outcasts who take Ju-ju under their wing and show her the seedy underbelly of the city. At first, Ju-just feels like she finally belongs, but when things start going downhill and she gets betrayed… she decides to burn it all to the ground.

THIS IS CERTAINLY A DISTINCTIVE, UNIQUE FILM…

Writer/Director Makoto Nagahisa has such an idiosyncratic style, you immediately know that you are watching something wholly distinctive the moment BURN begins. This film is absolutely stunning to look at, from the neon tinted glows, to fuzzy-distorted surreal nightmares, grainy camcorder footage and then glossy, vibrant cityscapes. Nagahisa even draws all over his movie with a glitter pen and makes sure everyone is screaming, singing loudly or the score is blasting. It’s chaotic and abrasive, but you can’t look away.

Nagahisa informed us before viewing his film, that this problem of displaced and homeless youth is getting really bad in Japan and he wanted to shine a light on that. He also wanted to show the dark and the light side of the lives of these young people living on the streets. Unfortunately, at least for me, I found that he only found the dark side. While moments of BURN can look bright and cutesy, this is a merciless beast of a movie, that is as harrowing and full of despair as they come.

THIS MOVIE JUST GOES A LITTLE TOO HARD FOR ME…

While the young actresses playing these girls are of age, seeing them partake in prostitution acts is still quite uncomfortable. And the moments of violence in BURN are unshakable and highly jarring. Nagahisa ratchets up the insanity of the film until I feel like he completely loses sight of his purpose. I believe his heart was in the right place and BURN started off extremely promising, but he had completely lost me by the end.

I love a bit of anarchy and nihilism, but this movie takes it to such a level that it begins to become irritating. While I think on a style level, BURN is an absolute banger… on a narrative level, I just wasn’t on board with where it took me at all. And afterwards, I felt like I needed to take a long, cold shower.

For More Reviews, Make Sure to Stay Tuned to That Hashtag Show!

Keep Reading:

“JOSEPHINE”: Grand Jury Prize Winner Is A Triumph [Sundance 2026 Review]