Antique
Warning: This contains some spoilers. And I really feel like you might want to heed this warning because I am not trying to warn you against watching something. I want the world to see this movie. I won't spoil the whole thing, though. So you still have something to watch the film for. Nevertheless, the flick had its.... moments. Other warnings include homosexuality, strong language, bigotry (briefly), violence, cake overdosing, and partial nudity (I think... do men in their underwear count as partial nudity?).
What the Hell Am I Watching?
The movie is called Antique, and was released in 2008. It is an adaptation of a manga called Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga. This film centers on four men who work together in a cake shop. Secrets from their pasts are revealed, and there is a lot of Boy Love.
Why the Hell Am I Watching This?
This film was brought to my attention after oulan and I watched the K-drama Coffee Prince (which is a super awesome extraordinary K-drama that may or may not be reviewed in future). That show featured a character played by Kim JaeWook, who is a musician turned actor/model and the most gorgeous man alive. Seriously. Just look at him. Anyway, we were just searching him up on the internet to find out if he was really Japanese like his charcter in Coffee Prince (he's not, he's Korean, but he lived in Japan for the first, like, seven years of his life) when we discovered he played a very, very gay character in this movie. So it had to be watched.
Why the Hell Am I Still Watching This?
So the film opens on a scene of a high school boy confessing his love to another high school boy. In response, that other boy shoves a cake in his face and calls him a faggot. These are our main characters, the flamboyantly homosexual Min Seon Woo who goes on to become an amazing patissier in Paris, and the dark-past rich-boy owner of the cake shop called Antique, Kim Jin Hyeok. I am already hooked.
Following this cake flinging is what must be the best opening credits ever. We see various fast-moving shots of people devouring cakes and pastries, people beating up other people and getting beaten all in the name of delicious desserts, and even a man trying to hang himself. Because of cake. All the while, we are getting brief scenes of some very sexy French dude who is describing the impact of cakes on people and their emotions like the man has never had a moment in his life that wasn't completely filled with cake and therefore associates all happiness in the world to their existence and their relative distance to one's facehole. And he's saying it all in French.
So, onto the actual film. When Seon Woo returns to to Korea from Paris and tries to get a job at Jin Hyeok's brand new cake place, we find out that a mishap following the whole cake-to-the-face incident led to Seon Woo going to a gay bar and becoming the object of all men's desires, gay or straight. And I have to agree; did you look at those pictures of him? Good God, that man is a tasty treat. He then calls himself the "Gay of Demonic Charm." It shows him several times from this point forward at that gay club, and every time it does the scene is the best scene in the movie except that one with the French guy later on. Anyway he gets the job.
At around 13 minutes and 20 seconds into this film, we get to see our first song-and-dance number. This movie is not a lighthearted kind of film, in case the warnings didn't give that away, but at random points throughout the movie suddenly everything is done musical-style. Kind of makes you feel like you might be going insane and all this is only in your head.
We are slowly introduced to the other two main characters, Yang Ki Beom who is an ex-boxer and Nam Soo Yeong who is Jin Hyeok's bodyguard. Oh, I should probably explain why he has a bodyguard - Jin Hyeok hates cake and pukes when he eats any because he was kidnapped when he was like 9 or 10 and forced to eat cake until he ran away 2 months later. So since his childhood this guy Soo Yeong (who is the son of Jin Hyeok's mother's now-deceased housekeeper) has been around to act as a bodyguard.
Now, in what I like to refer to as Return of the Really Hot French Guy, our boy from the opening credits decides to come to Korea. Why, you may be wondering, does this guy with a cake fetish need to come to Korea? Well, he wants to shag Seon Woo. And we want him to, too. And so does Seon Woo. Everything seems hunky-dorey. And HOT. There's a scene of them in their underwear in their bedroom. It's the best scene.
After that things get even weirder, and the plot thickens. I would suggest finding some time to see this movie, because it's awesome. I'll leave you with this gif, in hopes that it sways you to go see this movie!
What the Hell Am I Watching?
The movie is called Antique, and was released in 2008. It is an adaptation of a manga called Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga. This film centers on four men who work together in a cake shop. Secrets from their pasts are revealed, and there is a lot of Boy Love.
Why the Hell Am I Watching This?
This film was brought to my attention after oulan and I watched the K-drama Coffee Prince (which is a super awesome extraordinary K-drama that may or may not be reviewed in future). That show featured a character played by Kim JaeWook, who is a musician turned actor/model and the most gorgeous man alive. Seriously. Just look at him. Anyway, we were just searching him up on the internet to find out if he was really Japanese like his charcter in Coffee Prince (he's not, he's Korean, but he lived in Japan for the first, like, seven years of his life) when we discovered he played a very, very gay character in this movie. So it had to be watched.
Why the Hell Am I Still Watching This?
So the film opens on a scene of a high school boy confessing his love to another high school boy. In response, that other boy shoves a cake in his face and calls him a faggot. These are our main characters, the flamboyantly homosexual Min Seon Woo who goes on to become an amazing patissier in Paris, and the dark-past rich-boy owner of the cake shop called Antique, Kim Jin Hyeok. I am already hooked.
Following this cake flinging is what must be the best opening credits ever. We see various fast-moving shots of people devouring cakes and pastries, people beating up other people and getting beaten all in the name of delicious desserts, and even a man trying to hang himself. Because of cake. All the while, we are getting brief scenes of some very sexy French dude who is describing the impact of cakes on people and their emotions like the man has never had a moment in his life that wasn't completely filled with cake and therefore associates all happiness in the world to their existence and their relative distance to one's facehole. And he's saying it all in French.
So, onto the actual film. When Seon Woo returns to to Korea from Paris and tries to get a job at Jin Hyeok's brand new cake place, we find out that a mishap following the whole cake-to-the-face incident led to Seon Woo going to a gay bar and becoming the object of all men's desires, gay or straight. And I have to agree; did you look at those pictures of him? Good God, that man is a tasty treat. He then calls himself the "Gay of Demonic Charm." It shows him several times from this point forward at that gay club, and every time it does the scene is the best scene in the movie except that one with the French guy later on. Anyway he gets the job.
At around 13 minutes and 20 seconds into this film, we get to see our first song-and-dance number. This movie is not a lighthearted kind of film, in case the warnings didn't give that away, but at random points throughout the movie suddenly everything is done musical-style. Kind of makes you feel like you might be going insane and all this is only in your head.
We are slowly introduced to the other two main characters, Yang Ki Beom who is an ex-boxer and Nam Soo Yeong who is Jin Hyeok's bodyguard. Oh, I should probably explain why he has a bodyguard - Jin Hyeok hates cake and pukes when he eats any because he was kidnapped when he was like 9 or 10 and forced to eat cake until he ran away 2 months later. So since his childhood this guy Soo Yeong (who is the son of Jin Hyeok's mother's now-deceased housekeeper) has been around to act as a bodyguard.
Now, in what I like to refer to as Return of the Really Hot French Guy, our boy from the opening credits decides to come to Korea. Why, you may be wondering, does this guy with a cake fetish need to come to Korea? Well, he wants to shag Seon Woo. And we want him to, too. And so does Seon Woo. Everything seems hunky-dorey. And HOT. There's a scene of them in their underwear in their bedroom. It's the best scene.
After that things get even weirder, and the plot thickens. I would suggest finding some time to see this movie, because it's awesome. I'll leave you with this gif, in hopes that it sways you to go see this movie!