Antique

Min Kyu-dong's 2008 film adapts the Japanese comic by Fumi Yoshinaga. Jin-hyeok, wealthy and unsatisfied, converts an old antique shop into a cake shop and hires Seon-woo, reputed to be the country's finest pastry chef. The complication is that Seon-woo fell for him in high school and was turned down. An apprentice, Su-young, who is drawn to Seon-woo, and a former boxer, Ki-beom, join the shop, and Seon-woo's French ex-boyfriend turns up. The film runs as light comedy at first and then pivots toward an incident from Jin-hyeok's childhood that he does not remember, and that shift in register is the most contested thing about it. The pastry photography and the dynamic between the four men give it a distinct place in Korean popular cinema. Who it's for: viewers who want Korean comedy with queer characters at the centre, and manga adaptations. Who it's not for: anyone needing a consistent tone, or who would rather not be caught out by the dark turn in the second half.