Today they walk among us, in our movie theaters and in the real world, where pacemakers are prolonging lives and prostheses are helping paralympians win gold medals.

More plausible than zombies or interstellar travel, cyborgs offer sci-fi fans a glimpse of a future that is already upon us, speaking to ancient paranoias about untrammeled technology wielded without responsibility.

“I worry a lot more about human beings than tech,” says Leigh Whannell, the writer of the best “Saw” movies and the entire “Insidious” franchise, whose cyborg thriller “Upgrade” hits US theaters on Friday.

“Even my fears about tech have to do with human beings. We are the ones creating this stuff, the great minds of tech, from Elon Musk to Steve Jobs, at one time,” the 41-year-old Australian tells AFP.

“These are the minds that are able to conceive and build these worlds and I’m worried about our tendencies.”

A cyborg — short for “cybernetic organism” — is a person with restored or enhanced mechanical or electrical body parts, typically giving them abilities beyond those of normal humans.

They are not to be confused with androids, robots that have been made to appear human. So the Terminator, for example, doesn’t count — but Robocop does.

Their first appearance in fiction is generally credited to the 1843 Poe short story “The Man That Was Used Up,” which describes a disabled war veteran with extensive prostheses.

‘Undercurrent of anxiety’

“Upgrade” is the latest of several dozen mainstream cyborg, android and robot movies made since 1980, with Box Office Mojo attributing an average North American box office among the wide releases of about $100 million.

Cyborgs have been good guys and baddies down the years, from “The Six Million Dollar Man” through “Inspector Gadget” and perhaps the most iconic cyborg of them all, “Darth Vader.”

They continue to captivate, says Whannell, because they tap into a persistent dread about augmented reality, artificial intelligence and other advances — that the technology is gradually becoming our master.

Whannell uses the example of his smartphone, which makes him anxious whenever he opens it and checks the news. And it’s the messenger, not the message, that’s the problem.

“You could say smartphones are a first world problem, like people in Syria aren’t worried about Twitter, they’ve got bigger things to worry about,” the Australian tells AFP.

“But I think that there is an undercurrent of anxiety in modern society that has to do with our reliance on tech and the bombardment of information that comes from it.”

In “Upgrade,” curmudgeonly mechanic Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), a technophobe sore thumb in a digital near-future, takes his wife Asha as he delivers a restored classic car to tech billionaire Erin King.

On the way home their self-driving car crashes and they are attacked by a gang who shoot dead Asha (Melanie Vallejo) and leave Grey a quadriplegic.

King (Harrison Gilbertson) visits Grey in hospital and convinces him that his cutting-edge computer chip — he calls it “Stem” — will help him regain control over his ravaged body.

Souped-up Siri

Stem operates like a souped-up Siri, speaking in a voice only Trace can hear and able to operate his body independently, turning him into a cross between Usain Bolt and Bruce Lee.

Since his 2004 portrayal as terrified hostage Adam Stanheight in James Wan’s “Saw,” Whannell has become one of the most influential voices in 21st century horror.

He wrote three of the “Saw” movies — including that landmark first film, an early pioneer in the controversial “torture porn” genre — while his “Insidious” films made half a billion dollars worldwide on a combined budget of $27 million.

Whannell made his directorial debut with the third chapter in the series three years ago and was asked to direct 2018’s “Insidious: The Last Key,” but declined, preferring instead to strike out on his own.

He still speaks with awe — and no small amount of humility — about his involvement in “Saw,” and recalls, laughing, how Wan phoned him with the idea for the first and last scenes while Wan was on the toilet.

“It still gives me goosebumps to this day to think that this idea that we talked about back in Melbourne has connected with people around the world, that it has become a part of the pop culture zeitgeist,” Whannell said.

“You can make a ‘Saw’ reference now and everyone knows what you’re talking about. You just to see an image of that puppet’s face and people know what it’s all about.

“It’s up there with ‘E.T.,’ ‘Jaws’ and ‘The Simpsons’ and Coca-Cola and all the other pop culture memes that go around the world. That’s pretty amazing for us.”

Set at the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, the hit TV series “The Americans” sees a pair of KGB agents and their children living deeply undercover as a perfect suburban Washington family, while they do their spymasters’ bidding.

After launching five years ago, the FX network series found particular relevance in the era of Donald Trump, with a return of Cold War tensions amid accusations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

“The Americans” wrapped up an award-winning run with its final episode Wednesday after six seasons.

The show’s stars — Elizabeth and Philip Jennings — were on the run and caught up in a plot by their own agency to sabotage the looming historic summit between president Ronald Reagan and Soviet reformer Mikhail Gorbachev that could lead to the end of the Cold War.

Would Stan, the FBI counterintelligence agent who is the Jennings’ neighbor, finally expose them? Would they escape? What about their completely Americanized kids?

No giveaways here. What can be said was that the episode underscored the lack of any closure in the clandestine struggle between spies of both sides.

“The Americans” will linger in a US capital consumed fears that Russian intelligence manipulated Trump’s election and possibly even coopted the White House.

Lauded for realism

The show’s premise was simple: how the Jennings — actors Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys — live under deep cover in a northern Virginia home, raising two children in American schools, keeping the house clean and the pantry stocked, while taking orders from KGB bosses to steal top government secrets, eliminate rivals, and remain hidden from US spy chasers.

Torn between allegiances as simultaneously hard-bitten Russian operatives and comfortable, middle-class American parents, they had to navigate a marriage forced on them by their KGB bosses, deal with angsty teen children, and parry factionalism back in the home office in Moscow.

In the final year they were caught up in the split between old-school communist and the reformers represented by Gorbachev, which leads to murder and mayhem in the last episodes.

While Hollywood is replete with spy series and movies — the often over-the-top “Homeland” another recent hit — Washington intelligence officials lauded “The Americans” for its realism.

Even new CIA director Gina Haspel, a three-decade veteran of covert services, is a fan.

That comes, in part, from deep cooperation between FX and real spies. Series creator and executive producer Joe Weisberg spent three years with the CIA before turning his hand to writing.

His idea got the go-ahead not long after the 2010 arrest of a dozen Russian deep-cover operatives in the United States. A number of former CIA officials were advisors.

“‘The Americans’ gets the tradecraft and the technology of the 1980s generally right,” said Jonna Hiestand Mendez, who was a married, undercover CIA operative in Europe for years before becoming the chief of disguise at the agency.

“The script is littered with dead drops and communication protocols, disguises and cyanide pills, secret writing and signals that were used for impersonal communication with your agent or your team. It is all properly executed; it is done the way we did it.”

Speaking in a CIA-sponsored forum on the show in Los Angeles Wednesday, former agency counterintelligence chief Mark Kelton said the show rightly depicted the simultaneously “thrilling and terrifying” activities of the spy-versus-spy world.

There were some differences, though.

“The one thing about the show, the sex bit is used a lot. “That’s very rare in my experience… unfortunately for me, when I was younger,” he said.

The drudgery also didn’t make it to the Hollywood version, he added.

“What’s not covered in the show is how much time even the KGB spent documenting their activities. Some of the things you did, you would have spent days typing,” he said.

At the same time, former agents said, the show really got right the complications of personal life for spies. The final episode is heavily focused on what happens to the Jennings as a family.

“There is great strain. The show depicted that quite well,” said Kelton. “It does take a toll on families.”

Analysts had predicted the Disney/Lucasfilm project — directed by Ron Howard and with Alden Ehrenreich as a young version of the swashbuckling Han Solo — would reach up to $150 million, possibly setting a Memorial Day weekend record.

But the film, with a cast including Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke, fell short not only in North America but also abroad.

“The news is grim overseas,” said Hollywood Reporter, saying the film was heading for barely half the $300 million global take many had predicted.

Last weekend’s top film, 20th Century Fox’s “Deadpool 2,” took second spot this weekend, with a four-day estimate of $53.8 million.

That movie stars Ryan Reynolds as the foul-mouthed, irreverent title character as he forms an X-Force team to protect a young mutant from the evil Cable (Josh Brolin).

Third place went to Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” which took in $22.5 million in its fifth weekend out. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth.

In fourth, with $13.1 million in ticket sales, was a movie featuring no superheroes or interplanetary battles, and with a sedate sounding title — “Book Club” — that belies its racy story line.

The Paramount film tells the story of four aging friends — Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen — who decide to read the steamy book “Fifty Shades of Grey” and find it stimulating more than just their intellects.

And in fifth was Warner Bros. comedy “Life of the Party,” at $6.9 million. It stars Melissa McCarthy as a newly divorced mother who returns to college, only to find herself in class with her (deeply embarrassed) daughter.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Breaking In” ($4.3 million)

“Show Dogs” ($4.3 million)

“Overboard” ($4.1 million)

“A Quiet Place” ($2.4 million)

“RBG” ($1.3 million)

Bangkok’s cinephiles with a love for tradition will no doubt be shedding tears tomorrow, as Lido Multiplex in Siam Square screens its last films before closing for good.

Viewer numbers have been up in recent days as Thais and long-time Bangkok expats have flocked to Bangkok’s “cinema paradiso” to bid farewell to the end of an era.

One mother brought her two teenage kids to one showing, telling The Nation that the teens wanted to experience “old style” cinema just once before it disappeared for good. But she added that even though they don’t live far from Siam Square, the family favoured the modern Paragon Cineplex over the old-fashioned Lido.

Siam, Lido and Scala theatres in Siam Square are all part of the Apex chain, which leases the land they occupy from Chulalongkorn University. Opened on June 27, 1968, two years after its sister Siam cinema, and premiering with the Western “Guns for San Sebastian” (“Suek Sebastian”), Lido quickly became a popular venue for Bangkokians to watch films, especially as Siam Square grew into a centre for both shopping and fashion. A fire closed the cinema for a while in 1993 and Apex decided to remodel the 1,000-seat theatre into a three-screen multiplex before opening it again in 1996.

Lido Cinema manager Ubol Klarythong, who has witnessed plenty of ups and downs during his 50-year career with Apex, says that he is counting down to the closure.

“I’ll wear the yellow suit on May 31. My wife has already mended and cleaned it for me,” says the 71-year-old manager. The yellow suit has been the uniform of ticket collectors of the Apex theatres for five decades and become something of a logo. Ubol, who started work as a ticket collector at Lido in 1968, has kept his yellow suit even though he was promoted to manager years ago.

“I always knew my last day would come, either because I chose to retire or the cinema itself closed. I didn’t know which would happen first but I would much have preferred to retire than to see the end of this cinema. I was shocked when I heard the news a few months ago,” says Ubol, who will spend the rest of his days at home.

Sarot Sookproa

Another veteran is Sarot Sookproa, aka Ae, whose voice is instantly recognised by callers phoning to ask about showtimes. The popular operator, who always has a witty and fun response to questions, is a former DJ who switched to the cinema because of his mother. “She asked me to stay with her and that changed my life forever,” says Sarot, adding that he doesn’t know yet what his future will hold but hopes he’ll be able to continue working at Apex’s last cinema Scala. “I love working here, everyone is like family,” he says.

Now 51, Sarot has been with Lido for more than 10 years. He admits he was hesitant about taking the job at first but now can’t imagine any other career. Indeed, he does more than answer the phones. He’s also the gatekeeper of the Apex office on the third floor of the cinema and deals with everyone from film companies to clients who lease space. He also has to watch every movie screened at Lido so he can give information to anyone who phones in.

“They come regularly to Lido and some of them become telephone friends. I don’t ask their names but I remember their voices. Many of them often ask me to set a schedule that will allow them to see three or four movies in one day, as they live far away and don’t have time to come here often,” he says.

And now some of his phone pals are coming to meet him in person. “It is a great moment and I am very happy working here. They are like my family. I don’t want the cinema to close down,” says Sarot.

Rumours have circulated in recent years that Scala, the only standalone theatre left in Thailand, would close because Chulalongkorn University didn’t want to extend lease. Every time there appears to be some truth to the rumour, movie fans come out to protest. But now a compromise has finally been reached, with Chula and Apex agreeing to close Lido on May 31 and extend the life of Scala.

While Apex theatres draw students and movie lovers to watch blockbusters, Lido has gradually morphed into a cinema for alternative films, Asian movies and festival favourites. It is also one of the few theatres to show independent Thai films as well as host film students’ showreel events,

“For me, probably the most memorable moment is when the cinema showed “McKenna’s Gold”, which ran for more than eight months. Tickets were always sold out and we were busy everyday,” recalls Ubol.

In their heyday, the Apex cinemas had around 140 staffs working at the three venues. Today it has half that number and unlike other companies, Apex has no retirement programme in place, leaving the staff, most of whom are 50 and over, in the lurch.

Lido’s switch to the multiplex model coincided with the birth of the multiplex era but the cinema never enjoyed the same success as the newer venues. Ubol says that in 1997, Lido was in crisis, viewers weren’t coming and showtimes had to be cancelled due to lack of audiences. The situation improved when South Korean and Japanese movies began screening at Apex cinemas. These movies were on limited release and showed in the original language with subtitles rather than being Thai dubbed.

Korean movies like “Il Mare”, “The Classic” and Japanese films like “Nobody Knows” and “Be With You” proved the true saviours of the cinema.

Krittayanon Chamnanpanich from Mongkol Cinema, who has brought many Japanese movies to the Lido including “If Cats Disappear from the World” is both disappointed and annoyed at the closure though she acknowledges that the cinema has been struggling for the past few years.

“It’s a business cycle but the closure means that we are going to lose our movie culture. Multiplex theatres are spoiling the way we used to operate. For example, when a movie is in high demand such as Marvel’s superhero outings, the multiplex theatres set the best showtime schedules at the cost of local or art films, which are screened in off-peak periods. Social media have also changed behaviour in that they push viewers into watching a film so they can join the crowd and talk about it online. Their interest in watching alternative movies wanes and so Lido cannot survive in business,” she says.

But Mongkol Film is at least saying goodbye to this bastion of Asian films in style.

“Tonight, At Romance Theatre” and “Kids on the Slope” will be shown at 6.45pm and 8.45pm on Thursday (May 31). The former is particularly well suited to the farewell as it chronicles the romance between a movie director and the princess in a black-and-white film and references the old movie theatres that were forgotten when television was introduced to Japanese society.

The film will be preceded by a brief talk while after the screening, the audience will have a chance to take photographs with the yellow-suited “Lido Guys”.

The curtain will fall on Lido with “Kids On the Slope” and a farewell to the staff.

Ubol and Sarot will be around to welcome customers both old and new.

They expect to spend another four months clearing out cinema and finding out their fate.

It’s about the refugee situation in Europe as seen through the eyes of a wide range of characters, but it’s told in a heart-warming way.

At the heart of the story is the large Hartmann family, each of whose members is going through a crisis. Successful doctor Richard doesn’t want to age or retire and his idealistic wife Angelika is drifting away from him.

Their workaholic lawyer-son Philipp neglects his son Basti, who ends up with problems in school. Their daughter Sofie dislikes her study-courses and doesn’t know what she wants to do until she meets the Arab doctor, Tarek Berger, whom her father dislikes.

Into this dysfunctional family’s home is welcomed Nigerian refugee Diallo Makaburi, who slowly starts making a difference in all their lives. It’s a learning process for him too, since many things in Germany confuse him.

But in the end, they know they can’t do much about ensuring him asylum in their country, thanks to wary neighbours, terrorist threats, suspicious police and rightwing activists. It is a moment of reckoning for them all.

The movie has won audience awards at several festivals and was a hit in Germany, being Best National Film at the German Film Awards and the German Cinema Award for Peace.

The movie has subtitles in English and Thai.

The film screening in the new RCB Forum room on the second floor is free, supported by the German Embassy and the Goethe-Institut, which will host a reception afterwards. German Ambassador Peter Prugel will introduce the movie.

Reserve seats at https://goo.gl/forms/dRsMIbNZgp9rNhcr1 or rcbfilmclub@gmail.com

Analysts had predicted the Disney/Lucasfilm project — directed by Ron Howard and with Alden Ehrenreich as a young version of the swashbuckling Han Solo — would reach $130 million to $150 million, possibly setting a Memorial Day weekend record.

But the film, with a cast including Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke, was falling short not only in North America, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations predicted, but also abroad.

“The news is grim overseas,” said Hollywood Reporter, saying the film was heading for barely half the $300 million global take many had predicted.

Last weekend’s No. 1 film, “Deadpool 2” from 20th Century Fox and Marvel, took second spot this weekend, with a four-day estimate of $53.5 million.

That movie stars Ryan Reynolds as the foul-mouthed, irreverent title character as he forms an X-Force team to protect a young mutant from evil Cable (Josh Brolin).

Third place went to Disney/Marvel collaboration “Avengers: Infinity War,” which took in $20.1 million in its fifth weekend out. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth.

In fourth, with $12 million in ticket sales, was a movie featuring no superheroes or interplanetary battles, and with a sedate sounding title — “Book Club” — that belies its racy story line.

The Paramount film tells the story of four aging friends — Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen — who decide to read the steamy book “Fifty Shades of Grey” and find it stimulating more than just their intellects.

And in fifth was Warner Bros. comedy “Life of the Party,” at $6.5 million. It stars Melissa McCarthy as a newly divorced mother who returns to college, only to find herself in class with her (deeply embarrassed) daughter.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Breaking In” ($5 million)

“Show Dogs” ($4.2 million)

“Overboard” ($4.1 million)

“A Quiet Place” ($2.7 million)

“RBG” ($1.4 million)

The former mogul — once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars — smirked as he was escorted into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs to face the first criminal charges lodged against him.

Weinstein, a 66-year-old twice-married father of five, was charged with rape in the first and third degrees, stemming from an attack on a woman in 2013, and a criminal sex act against another woman in 2004. Neither victim was named.

“Today’s charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, thanking “brave survivors” for coming forward and urging others to call a sex crimes hotline.

Standing alongside his defense attorney, the former Tinseltown powerbroker looked glum during the brief arraignment, agreeing to post bail at $1 million cash, surrender his passport and be fitted with a GPS monitoring device.

Weinstein’s career went down in flames in October over sexual assault allegations following explosive articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment reckoning across the United States, in multiple industries.

Nearly 100 women have now accused Weinstein of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back decades.

New York authorities have been investigating the disgraced producer for months, under growing pressure from Hollywood actresses to bring him to justice, and their probes are ongoing.

Weinstein already faces a slew of civil lawsuits, is reportedly under federal investigation, and his former studio has filed for bankruptcy.

But these were the first criminal charges against Weinstein.

Defense attorney Ben Brafman told reporters that his client would plead not guilty and still denied any non-consensual sexual activity.

“We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges,” Brafman said.

“Bad behavior is not on trial,” he added. “Mr Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood.”

His case was adjourned until July 30.

Handcuffs

The former studio boss surrendered to police shortly before 7:30 am (1130 GMT) wearing a white shirt, pale blue sweater and dark blazer, as dozens of television cameras and photographers mobbed the street outside.

He walked into the station clutching several books, apparently including the Rodgers and Hammerstein biography “Something Wonderful” and a volume on late director Elia Kazan.

He left handcuffed, without the books, after his mugshots and fingerprints were taken.

Police said he was “arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct.”

Out on bail, Weinstein’s travel will be restricted to New York and the neighboring state of Connecticut.

‘Inevitable descent to hell’

Former actress Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004, is thought to be one of the women whose cases triggered the New York charges.

New York police previously confirmed another credible rape allegation after “Boardwalk Empire” actress Paz de la Huerta accused the former producer of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010.

Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are among more than two dozen actresses who say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.

“I have to admit I didn’t think I would see the day that he would have handcuffs on him,” McGowan told ABC television.

“Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice,” tweeted Argento.

The Time’s Up anti-harassment movement — launched on January 1 — said the producer “shattered the lives of an untold number of women,” adding that it looked “forward to seeing justice prevail.”

The #MeToo movement has seen people around the world come forward with cases of sexual mistreatment, leading to the downfall of powerful men across industries, including Oscar winner Kevin Spacey.

Weinstein has reportedly spent months in treatment for sex addiction. His fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, has left him.

But for all the media circus, experts warn that any trial — let alone a criminal conviction — would still be a long way off.

Sexual assault cases, particularly those that allegedly happened years ago, are notoriously difficult to prosecute and often lack substantive forensic evidence.

Weinstein’s lawyer is one of America’s most celebrated criminal defense attorneys. His past clients include former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who escaped criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011.

In mythology, however, these aquatic beings are far from benign, and would prey on hapless seafarers by luring them with their hypnotic song.

It’s these vicious mermaids of ancient times that are wreaking havoc in the new American drama series “Siren”, which makes its debut on June 4 at 8.45pm on Blue Ant Entertainment available on TrueVisions Channel 337 and on AIS Play.

Legend has it that mermaids once lived on what is now Bristol Cove, a quiet coastal town on the Pacific Northwest. The town folklore would soon prove more than a fairytale with the sudden appearance of a young woman who calls herself Ryn (Belgian actress Eline Powell). The mysterious visitor catches the eye of local marine biologist Ben Pownall (Alex Roe), whose interest in the strange woman arouses suspicion from fellow marine biologist, Maddie Bishop (Fola Evans-Akingbola).

Others, like deepsea fisherman Xander McClure (Ian Verdun), are also on a quest to uncover the truth beneath the waves, while town eccentric Helen Hawkins (Rena Owen) seems to know more about the local legend than what Bristol Cove has been led to believe.

Tension rises between the denizens of land and sea as predatory mermaids seek to claim their birthright.

One of the most highly acclaimed movies in competition for the coveted Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is the Russian film “Leto” (“Summer”) by Kirill Serebrennikov.

Serebrennikov came to Cannes in 2016 with “The Student”, which was selected for the Un Certain Regard category but this year, his first time in the main competition, was prevented from attending by his government. The director is currently under house arrest on charges of alleged corruption, though many believe the real reason is his criticism of Vladimir Putin’s government.

Filmed in black and white, “Leto” is set in the Soviet Union of the 1980s and tells the story of the early years of two Soviet rock stars – Viktor Tsoi of Kino band and Mike Naumenko of Zoopark band. Tsoi, the country’s first rock superstar, became a legend following his untimely death in 1990.

A Russian of Korean descent, Tsoi is portrayed in the film by Teo Yoo, a South Korean actor born and raised in Germany even though he doesn’t speak a word of Russian. Since graduating from the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, Yoo has been appeared in a variety of foreign productions, among them the Vietnamese film “Bitcoin Heist” director Ham Tran.

In 2017, Teo Yoo was cast in the Thai film “The Moment” directed by Laddawan Rattanadilokchai. He played Kim, the head of the creative department at a Korean company who falls in love with Karn (Kan Kantathavorn), his colleague from Thailand.

“I got a call from a friend of a friend who knows Laddawan. They were looking for an English-speaking Korean actor willing to play a gay character. I made a tape of myself and sent it to them,” he says.

“The Moment” was followed by “Leto”.

“Again, it started with a call from a friend last May,” Yoo tells XP. “He told me that a famous Russian director wanted to cast Viktor Tsoi. He asked me ‘Do you know any Korean actors in their early 20’s or late teens who might be interested in the role?’ I’d lost some weight at the time, and have curly hair like Tsoi in real life, so I sent my photos and bio. A week later, they wanted to see photos of me playing a guitar, so I sent those too and I was then called to Moscow for an audition. Kirill had been in preproduction for six months and still hadn’t found anyone for the role so I knew I was in with a chance.

“I didn’t know a word of Russian. During the audition, they told me to work in English as I would need to be dubbed in the film anyway. I did that and sang two of Viktor Tsoi’s songs. When I got the role and returned to Moscow for the shoot, I found out I needed to do it in Russian because the lips had to match! I didn’t sign up for that, but as an actor, my philosophy is that I’m the instrument for the director to present his vision. So I started memorising the lines in Russian phonetically. I took the script and worked solidly in my hotel room for three weeks. I learnt Russian by osmosis and by default,” he laughs.

“My role model is Asano Tadanobu. I met him at the Busan International Film Festival and we became friends. Whenever I have to go to other countries to film, I ask him for advice. He’s worked in other countries without speaking their language or even English,” Yoo says of the Japanese actor who starred in Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s “Last Life in the Universe” and “Invisible Waves”.

“As an actor, you play with fear in your head and you trust the production. In the end, it’s all about love – the language of cinema is the same everywhere. You fight time. You have a limited budget. Everybody gets a little bit hysterical. You get drunk. You cry. You laugh.”

Yoo looks at Tsoi as someone who created a culture. “Tsoi was a young kid who was inspired by American music and he added some Korean poetry and charisma. He put the cultures together and created something new, instead of ripping them apart. His music brought all the production together. I am really grateful for that.”

The 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped on Sunday, was another triumph for Asian cinema with veteran Japanese filmmaker Koreeda Hirokazu winning the Palme d’Or for “Shoplifters”, a touching tale of outsiders, and becoming the second Asian film this century to do so. The last, film fans will remember, was Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives”, which took home this prestigious award back in 2010.

Asian titles did well in other categories too, with the Lebanese film “Capernaum” directed by Nadine Labaki awarded the Jury Prize and the Iranian film “3 Faces” by Jafar Panahi recognised with Best Screenplay.

Veteran South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong was back in Cannes this year with his latest film “Burning”. The director’s sixth feature film, a mystery drama based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, did not win one of the official awards but received good reviews from critics and took home their prize – the Fipresci Award.

“There is no red carpet and no bright lights on this stage, but the red carpet and the lights always feel a unrealistic to me. My film ‘Burning’ is about the border between the unrealistic and the realistic. I’m really thankful to the audience for their appreciation of this film,” director Lee said in his acceptance speech last Saturday.

The protagonist of “Burning” is Jongsu (played by Korean star Yoo Ahin), a delivery boy who dreams of becoming a writer. Jongsu runs into his childhood friend Haemi (Jun Jongseo), who has undergone plastic surgery and now looks very different. Haemi sleeps with Jongsu and asks him to look after her cat – an animal Jongsu is not sure really exists – while she goes away. When Haemi returns from her trip to Kenya, she introduces Jongsu to Ben (Steven Yeun), a mysterious rich man who has a strange hobby of burning abandoned greenhouses.

Yoo Ahin is well known to audiences for his roles in such television series as “Sungkyunkwan Scandal” and “Jang Okjung, Living by Love”. He has also appeared in several films, among them “Antique”, “Punch” and “Veteran”. “Burning” is his first time working with Lee Chang-dong, and he tells XP that he saw it as an important opportunity.

“To work with director Lee is so special for me. It makes me realise who I really am and what it means to be an actor,” he says.

“I was first contacted by director Ryoo Seungwan with whom I worked on ‘Veteran’. He told me that director Lee wanted to meet me so we fixed a time and he told me almost immediately that he wanted me to work with him if I was okay with that. Lee likes to choose his actors by networking,” Yoo says with a smile.

“Burning”, he says, is very different from the usual mainstream films in which he has appeared in the past.

“It’s more arthouse than commercial. And what makes is really interesting is the different perception the audience has of the story. For me, the best part was the freedom I was given in how I portrayed the character. I understood immediately that it was very important to show how the character feels. Jongsu is like most young ordinary people in our society, but is also a kind of loser or outsider. I wanted to show how an ordinary young man can feel helpless and lonely,” the actor explains.

Ben, the mysterious young rich man, is played by Steven Yeun, a Korean-American actor who mainly works in the US and is best-known for his role in the hit series “The Walking Dead”. “Burning” is Yeun’s second Korean film after Boon JoonHo’s “Okja” in 2017.

“I was in London and at 3 in the morning director Bong Joonho texted me and asked me to call him right away. I did and he told me director Lee wanted to meet me about this film. We met and after talking with him and reading the script, I felt that I had to do it, not least because I really wanted to work with director Lee. He told me he knows when he has found his character, and that’s a wonderful gift a director can give to an actor, because it makes you feel brave,” says Yeun.

As an actor raised in America, Yeun might be very different from Ben but nonetheless felt connected to him for the word go.

“Ben is a Korean native, but he has travelled extensively in spirit if not in person. I am a Korean-American and I have been to and experienced different countries. With the stuff the Internet is force-feeding young people these days, you get to know other countries even without physically going there. And you quickly realise that each place has different rules, which means that there are no rules. We make them up and you see chaos, sorrow and happiness and fear, because there are no rules. As a Korean-American, you can feel that as you are living between the gap of America and Korea.”

With almost 10 years of acting in the US, Yeun found that working on a Korean production gave him more freedom. “I’m very spoilt to have worked in Korea with director Bong and director Lee. In some ways, I felt freer working on a Korean production than I do on American productions, because the directors gave us space. I had heard that Korean productions could difficult, but problems arise in American productions too and I certainly didn’t face any problems with either of these directors. I have been very lucky.”

One of the most important characters of the film is Haemi, the young girl to whom Jongsu is attracted. She’s played by 22-year-old rookie Jun Jongseo, who joined the auditions for the role and found herself working with an internationally acclaimed director.

“I was really nervous during the audition but when I came on to the set, director Lee left me free to act, which was really good for me,” says Jun Jongseo. “Haemi is like Jongsu in that she is also an outsider, but I feel that her character is also strangely free.”

And even though “Burning” didn’t win any of the festival’s prizes, simply being in Cannes and in the competition was a great moment for all the cast.

“‘Burning’ and experiencing Cannes have been really special. It’s a great honour to work with director Lee and I will remember this for the rest of my life,” says Yoo.