Early on, my boyfriend and I mistakenly interpreted the movie Pumpkin Time as a gay parable. Yet while Kang Min-gu's light comedy definitely exists along the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, this one's really a trans love story. The young boy (Lim Tae-poong) transformed into a young girl (Lee Soo-min) by an overeager fairy (Yeo One) doesn't want to change back to her original sex despite the discomforts of her transition. To the contrary, she discovers, upon closer examination, that she actually prefers being a girl. And not because she thinks her fancifully acquired womanhood increases her romantic chances with her childhood crush (Shin Hyun-seung). He, for his part, is very much searching for a same-gender soulmate he knew years ago on his little league team, before his family relocated across the ocean to the United States. Indeed, while the question facing our young leading lady is "To be female or not to be female," the question facing our young leading man is "Can one's object of adoration change from a he to a she?"
That question speaks movingly to the fluidity of sexual attraction, making the webisodes-turned-movie Pumpkin Time a deeper experience than you might expect. I only wish the story came with more surprises! The new female student (Choi Yu-jin) with unwarranted jealousy toys with villainry but never achieves it. A silly BFF (Nam Kyu-hee) never gets funny enough lines to rise to comic relief. Ultimately, Perhaps such details don't matter. Pumpkin Time is very much a movie of the moment, a welcome entry in the gender-switch teen rom-com that gives its sex-change plot-twist serious consideration and refreshing validation!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment