Yoo Ah-in
Yoo's performance was universally acclaimed. Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times said on NPR, "As the movie’s inarticulate male lead, Yoo Ah-in has, in some ways, the trickiest task. But he reaches almost subterranean depths of feeling." Jessica Kiang of "The Playlist" wrote, "Yoo’s Jong-su is the very definition of still waters that run deep and dark and conceal who knows what in their murky reaches. Only a flawlessly assured performance could make the film’s devastating yet ambivalent and enigmatic finale work as well as it does here." Pierce Conran of Screen Anarchy wrote, "Even more impressive is Yoo Ah-in, who is most well known in the West for playing the slimy son of a corporate head who serves as the villain in Ryoo Seung-wan's "Veteran". Never better, Yoo embodies a sense of confusion, which eventually turns to dread in a performance that doesn't allow us to make any easy judgments about his character. Jong-soo's intentions throughout the story may seem innocent, but coupled with references to emasculation and his timid physicality, Yoo crafts an unusually compelling lead." Tim Grierson of Screen Daily wrote, "Ah-in Yoo is remarkable as "Burning"’s ineffectual, withdrawn protagonist: he’s the perfect vessel for Lee’s grand treatise on the immutable fact that none of us truly understands anyone or anything." For his role in "Burning", The New York Times featured Yoo in their list of "The Best Actors of 2018", making him the only Asian to be on the list and the first Korean actor to do so.