The 12th Suspect: This Pen Writes in Red Ink

The 12th Suspect starts off as an old-fashioned Agatha Christie mystery. The fatal gunshot is announced early on by a nattily attired detective (Kim Sang-kyung) after he crashes a sad, literary coffeehouse, leaving us — and him — the rest of the movie to discover which of these eight or so customers is the guilty one. Unless, of course, the husband-and-wife owners (Heo Sung-tae and Park Seon-yeong) are responsible for offing that loner poet.

Unlike Christie, however, writer-director Ko Myoung-sung's takes a moment for poetry, too. Not the cinematic variation. The literary kind. You can do that when so many of your primary suspects are poets! As for a motive, can you think of a better one than good ol' literary rivalry? Yes, yes, love-gone-wrong is presented as a potential reason but whoever thinks Choi Yoo-jeong (Han Ji-ahn) is the femme fatale has shifted from Christie country to the realm of Raymond Chandler. In actuality, The 12th Suspect shifts to John Le Carre territory as it mines the drama of anti-commie militarism played out in front of a post-Korean-War backdrop. So what's the true cause of the eventual bloodbath? Does the why even matter? Whodunit's really are a guessing game!

Addicted: Self-Denial Can Be a Form of Love

Something undeniably creepy is afoot in Park Young-hoon's Addicted, a transcendental love story about a woman (Lee Mi-yeon) whose comatose husband (Lee Eol) appears to have returned to the conscious world by taking possession of the younger, hotter body of his little brother (Lee Byung-hun). While you could look at this sibling soul-swapping as a form of superficial upgrading for the widow, you do also have to wonder about the morals of a guy who'd evict the soul of his brother just to continue making kitschy furniture and cuddling with his wife. Naturally, the widow is confused and full of questions. Possession's not as commonplace as it once was, though -- in this movie -- the hospital's resident psychiatrist seems to treat it as a rare yet legitimate diagnosis. What the psychiatrist does not provide is a treatment plan. The younger brother's wannabe girlfriend (Park Seon-yeong) takes a stab at an exorcism of sorts by inviting her old love interest to the family farm for some backbreaking labor. All this does, however, is break her heart a little more. He didn't love her before. He doesn't love her now. Like any smart reject of romance, she packs her bags to study abroad. But not before sending those soul-mates to Hell!