The General's Mustache: A Novel Twist

Life is a mystery. Oh wait! I'm getting ahead of myself. Who killed photojournalist Kim Chul-woon (Shin Seong-il) before he could finish writing his parable of a novel? That's the supposed mystery in The General's Mustache, a movie that's not too worried about solving its principal crime. That's because the elusive nature of life keeps distracting our two lead investigators, Detective Park (Kim Seung-ho) and his young partner (Kim Seong-ok), an aspiring ladies' man. So while this procedural pair may grill the dead man's ex-girlfriend Shin-hye (Yoon Jeong-hee) and his landlady and his mother, they're also asking themselves what constitutes a relationship and what justifies a breakup. And when they reflect on the life of the girlfriend's father, about the very nature of faith and religion and friendship. Deep, baby, deep.

It's hard to crack a murder case — or establish the cause of a suicide if that's what's going on — when you keep getting swept up in existential questions or being distracted by the potential legacy of a childhood accident that left a forehead scar. Luckily for us, the philosophizing in The General's Mustache is exactly what makes this movie such a treat. Director Lee Seong-gu's film is bursting with ideas whether he's introducing a nude model or a game of "confession," riddling about a new kite or utilizing alternate visuals like cartoons and splashy paintings to help him tell his whackadoodle story. If you can call it a story. I'd call it poetry.

When the Buckwheat Blooms: Rape Isn't Love

Lee Seong-gu's black-and-white melodrama When the Buckwheat Blooms is built around one distasteful event: After fabric peddler Heo (Park No-sik) falls in love-at-first-sight with Bun-i (Kim Ji-mee), he chances upon her nude-bathing, chases her down in a field, then rapes her...from the heart? For him, it's the beginning of a life-defining tragic romance; for her, it's the first in a series of sexual assaults that will plague her young womanhood as she's sold from boatsman to cattle rancher to pimp...then back again. That she longs for the father of her subsequent son doesn't seem like a lingering passion so much as a warped survival instinct shaped by the legacy of trauma. As for Heo, his years-long search for his victim impacts our sympathy for this "hero" because we know he'd try his best to provide her — and their child — without hustling her from man to man. No. It's not the Disney ideal!

But despite his best efforts to rescue his damsel in distress, as he runs from one end of the country to the other, his quest proves ultimately fruitless. By chance, however, he does reunite with two old friends — a snake oil salesman (Heo Chang-kang) and a paper dealer (Kim Hie-gab). These old pals of yesteryear are there to remind him that there are other loves in this life and that the fraternal bond is no less important than the familial or erotic one. Heck, When the Buckwheat Blooms even celebrates the affection between man and packmule. The break between Heo and his beast of burden is among the most tender scenes in the film. (Maybe he too is sold from one guy to the next!) But for me, it was nice to see a four-legged friend have his work and devotion acknowledged, too.

A Young Zelkova: Romance With Simple Shadows

Was color film really an advancement? Generally speaking, black-and-white movies are consistently more visually arresting. The images tend to be more focused, and the interplay of shadow and light inherently comes into play. And since the monochromatic aspect automatically feels archival, the picture itself feels like a piece of history. Because of that, A Young Zelkova overcomes its corniness and its outdated morality through the gravity of grayscale. For much of Lee Seong-gu's melodrama, conflict looks to be in short supply.

When Suk-hee (Moon Hee) travels to the city to attend Cheonwu Women's University, she leaves her grandparents behind to live with her remarried mother (Joo Jeong-ryeo), her stepdad-professor (Park Am), and her new stepbrother (Shin Sung-il) whose single, handsome, smart, and romantic. The rival (Yoon Yang Ha) for her heart presents no real danger to their happily ever after. Nor do a trio of bike accidents: one when they meet cute; one when he gives a lift to a young friend (Ahn Sung-ki), and one when he teaches her how to ride a two-wheeler on a nearby tennis court. What does threaten their future are societal expectations. You see, you're not supposed to fall for a sibling whether he's a blood relation or not.