Murakami's story Barn Burning and its transformation into a movie

Haruki Murakami's story Barn Burning, in hi 1993 collection, The Elephant Vanishes, is typical of Murakami in many ways and seems an unlikely candidate for adaptation as a feature film though that's what it is, having been made into the film Burning in 2018 and transferred from Japan to South Korea (see my post on Burning under Elliotswatching). Typical of Murakami, characters disappear w/ no clear reason or explanation, characters have unusual obsessions - in this case one of the characters professes to pyromania and obsession w/ burning barns, and is surprised that others don't share this obsession - and a conclusion that's enigmatic. It may not be the best HM story, but it's a good glimpse into his style, both in short stories and novels, which is clearly not for all tastes. The filmmaker, Chang-dong Lee, had some important choices to make and he made some major changes in the story for his adaptation: It's still a story about a love triangle - boy meets girl, girl flies off to Africa for vacation, girl returns w/ new boyfriend, the threesome continue to hang out together, the girl disappears. It's still centered on barn burning (changed to greenhouse burning), with the "new boyfriend" character leading the charge, and with a lot of ambiguity about whether he actually does burn down barns or if he's just taunting the other guy. In the film, however, the narrator - a successful novelist much like Murakami and in fact married w/ children so the friendship seems Platonic though add (we never see the wife/children) - is much younger, inexperienced, a would-be writer who shows no proclivity to actually write, and most important from a family of rural impoverishment, so there's an obvious and immediate jealousy and rivalry with the young man of poor background feeling squashed and inadequate compared w/ the rich new boyfriend. This oppositional dynamic - not at all present in the story, in which the two men seem to be social equals and potential pals - leads the film to a much more dramatic and violent conclusion: Necessary for cinema (though puzzling and a strange and unconvincing ending to Burning) is antithetic to HM's open and ambiguous style. Wondering what he thought of the film: A rich new interpretation and expansion and opening, or an appropriation?