Homebound: The Road to Return Has You Coming Back

Lest we forget, military spouses experience their own forms of PTSD. In Lee Man-hui's delectably arty, beautifully shot melodrama Homebound (a.k.a. Coming Back a.k.a. The Way Home a.k.a. A Road to Return), the protagonist isn't the depressed, wheelchair-bound veteran (Kim Jin-gyu) who's writing a serialized roman a clef for a Seoul newspaper. It's his saintly wife (Moon Jeong-suk) who has trauma-triggered hallucinations of her own — although how far they extend is really up to the viewer to decide. What we do know, for sure, is that she's responsible for dropping off her husband's latest chapter to the editor-in-chief who would like to see the story get a little more "human." By which he means, can't she cheat already?

She for her part is unsure of the answer. Will her hubby stop idealizing her sexless sacrifices? Will the oh-so-close almost-kiss she has with a rookie reporter (Kim Jeong-cheol) at a makeout bar ever develop into a duel of the tongues? Will she ever get more physical contact than what she receives from her pet German shepherd Bess? The neurotic way she applies lipstick late in the film sure suggests she needs some kind of help fast. Because if she doesn't get it, she's going to end up in Tennessee Williams country instead of Incheon.

Declaration of Fools: Less Chirpy Talk, More Chaplin Walk

Released in 1983, the nonsensical Declaration of Fools feels as though it were shot in the freewheelin' '60s. But that might be because the more recent South Korean decade was shaped by a people-power credo similar to that of America'a youth revolution of 15 years prior. But is director Lee Jang-ho advocating for democracy or anarchy here? He's appparently got no (coherent) script and his scenery-chewing leading man, Kim Myung-gon, isn't fighting the status quo with his Chaplinesque kicks. Where are the two of them going? To vaudeville, to the circus, or to a kindergarten class?

Should it be that last option, they might meet up with the child who provides the film with its occasional narration. (Most of the movie is devoid of dialogue!) Hell, if that same youngster is responsible for the playful drawings used for the credits, he'd be a pretty cool kid to meet. Who shows up in the meantime? Actress Lee Bo-hee and her costar Lee Hie-seong, both giving energetic performances via dubiously connected skits incorporating Jerry Lewis hijinks like pants-less cocktail parties and an afternoon of inflatable condoms. What's it all about? Life is meaningless! We've lost our way! Everyone's stupid! Take your pick. There's truth to be found aplenty but a little more forethought and a little less slapstick might've worked in this movie's favor.

Pumpkin Time: One Fairy, No Godmothers

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!

Whistle Blower: The Lies of Science

One of the great myths of the modern age is that scientists are more honest than most people. In truth, cancer researchers and genetic engineers are equally human and therefore occassionally get seduced by fame, money, power, and all the other niceties. Elizabeth Holmes has become the poster child for scientific fraud in the U.S. but she's hardly the only one worldwide. In Korea, they had Hwang Woo-suk, a stem cell biotechnologist who bulllshitted about cloning capabilities (on a global scale, no less) as he deluded himself and his cohorts that the actual discovery was a constant few months away.

Yim Soon-rye's thriller Whistle Blower puts that headline-grabbing story on the big screen. Told from the perspective of a tenacious veteran producer (Park Hae-il) whose pursuit of a story puts his life as well as his livelihood in danger, this film really drives home how hard it is to take on the powers that be. Truth isn't enough. People need to be brave to the point of self-sacrifice and lucky beyond what fate usually provides. And so, while Whistle Blower may be a feel-good story, you're also aware that more often than not Justice is not the result. Corruption exists in the upper echelons everywhere — the science community included.