[K-Movie Night] Antique

by Dramaddictally

Welcome to K-Movie Night — a once-a-month feature where we microwave some popcorn, put on a face mask, and get cozy with a Korean movie from yesteryear. With so many films finally streaming (with subs!), now is the time to get caught up on all those movies we missed featuring our favorite drama actors.

Each month, we’ll pick a flick, write a review, and meet you back here to discuss whether or not it’s worth a watch. Super simple. All you have to do is kick up your feet and join us in the comments!

 
Movie Review

This month’s pick was a hit back in 2008, when it blew up the box office and also turned a few heads on the film-fest scene. Starring Joo Ji-hoon (who we saw earlier this year in The Trauma Code – Heroes on Call) and Kim Jae-wook (who you might have just binged in Dear Hongrang), this is a BL story about a bakery owner and a pastry chef who are a little at odds when one has an unreciprocated crush on the other.

The film is billed as a comedy, and while some circles call it a cult classic — noting how it pushed boundaries when it was released — others say its humor doesn’t stand the test of time. But with boys, cakes, and comedy packed into a little patisserie, it seemed like a movie that was worth watching to form our own opinions.

The running theme throughout Antique is cakes — starting with the one that’s smashed into the face of MIN SUN-WOO (Kim Jae-wook) when he confesses to KIM JIN-HYUK (Joo Ji-hoon) in high school. Jin-hyuk is into girls (although, as we learn later, he’s just been dumped) and he responds to Sun-woo in a way that involves both cake and cruel slurs.

As the movie speeds through time to show us where the two leads are now, we see that the rejection initially led Sun-woo to attempt suicide. But when he picks himself back up and we meet him today, he’s put the past behind him by becoming a devilish charmer who all the guys go for (even if they’ve never been with a man before). He’s got a rep for being the best pastry chef in town — but also being repeatedly fired for breaking too many hearts. Everybody wants him; nobody can keep him.

And wouldn’t you know it, just as Sun-woo is on the market for a new job, Jin-hyuk has decided to open a French bakery because “all the customers are women.” Yep, that’s the main motivation for this rich kid’s new business endeavor and, as it turns out, he doesn’t even like cakes.

But of course there’s a backstory. As all the shenanigans start to unfold when Jin-hyuk hires Sun-woo to make his new bake shop a success, we come to learn that Jin-hyuk was abducted as a child and his reasons for opening Antique (that’s the bakery) have to do with putting that trauma to rest. This thread — which winds up following a crime case to be solved — is where the movie loses its luster, when so much more time could be spent on the central relationships.

And there are relationships aplenty. A huge part of the draw here is watching Kim Jae-wook charm the pants off everybody (literally), from one of the new hires on the bakery staff (Choi Ji-ho) to his old flame from Paris who shows up announced and wants him to come back to France. (Yowza on the scenes with the French lover.)

Honestly, the relationship with the ex is a goldmine that could have been dug into a lot more, but the movie throws it in mid-way in order to up the stakes on Jin-hyuk’s success, rather than squeezing it for emotional triangulation. However, the jealousy that comes from the initial encounter, when Jin-hyuk is mistaken for Sun-woo’s new beau, is when my interest piqued (and when I realized what a more streamlined movie this could have been).

As it stands, it’s a bit all over the place, with the introduction of interesting themes that don’t always add up. We move between dream-like sequences that express the characters’ desires, to shots of a kidnapped child covered in blood, to the antics that overtake the bakery. I think it’s at its best when the story is centered on Sun-woo, his growth, and how he’s endured and overcome the trials in his life. When we get into his past struggles, we find not only cruel slurs, but domestic violence, and a heart-wrenching story about his first crush.

Even with overt sexual relationships between men at the core of the story, the most surprising thing for me was the depiction of Sun-woo with his French boyfriend. It’s rare in Korean media to see a focus on intercultural intimate relationships, and here, it’s a casual part of a main character’s story. I found their scenes fascinating for many reasons, and this was only another reason I would have liked to see more of them on screen.

All in all, the highlight of Antique is Kim Jae-wook as the irresistible pastry chef who gets around and everyone falls in love with. The side characters (including Yoo Ah-in as an ex-boxer turned baker-in-training) aren’t fully fleshed out. And even with kidnapping tossed in to up the ante, the bakery owner’s story only comes to life when it bumps up against Sun-woo.

Neither laugh-out-loud funny nor truly heartwarming, I still think the film is entertaining enough to give it a go. Kim Jae-wook is beautiful here and having him and the other men alongside pretty pastries inside a vintage-décor bake shop is all it took to keep my eyes on the screen.

There is definitely a risk of finding some of the humor dated (and offensive), but having it there also gives Sun-woo a chance to shine. We see what he’s survived — and continues to survive — and how he does it with humor, charm, grace, and his head held high. And that, my friends, is worth the price of admission.

Join us in June for the next K-Movie Night and let’s make a party of it! We’ll be watching Hot Young Bloods (2014) and posting the review during the last week of the month.

Want to participate in the comments when it posts? You’ve got 3 weeks to watch! Rather wait for the review before you decide to stream it? We’ve got you covered.

 
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