The Antique Guys on “Antique Bakery”

[image source]

Always with fresh ideas, Korean movies are able to enchant their fans. One of them is the movie “Antique Bakery”. It was released on 2008, carrying a unique idea and also brought up a sensitive issue such as homosexuality. The movie was directed by Gyoo Min Dong and was originally based on Japanese comic with the same title.

Played by Joo Ji Hoon (a prince in drama “Goong” and an evil attorney in “The Devil”) as the leading role, this movie was categorized as comedy, but not the pure one because it was mixed with a murder mystery as the background. So maybe it could also be called a comedy thriller.

Kim Jin Hyeok, an heir of a wealthy businessman, decided to open a pastry shop named “Antique Bakery”, despite the fact that he hated cake. For his new business, he decided to hire Min Seon Woo (played by Kim Jae Wook) as a patissier, with some conditions because Min Seon Woo was a gay man who had confessed his love to Jin Hyeok in high school.

Behind his idea to open a pastry shop, Jin Hyeok has a hidden purpose that he never told anyone. Assisted by his high school admirer, his private bodyguard and a young boy who loves cake, he ran his business and tried to achieve his hidden purpose. The ending of the story was illustrated with a unique way as a therapy to help Jin Hyeok recovered from a childhood trauma.

In this movie, Joo Ji Hoon showed a very different character. He deliberately let his whiskers grew and that just made him looked more manly and cool. Kim Jae Wook’s acting on Coffee Prince as a waffle maker might help him for acting in this movie as a patissier, other than that he looked really attached to his role as a top-class gay because he looked so gay : D

Supported also by some veteran actor Kim Chang Wan, this movie became more interesting. At a glimpse, this movie reminded viewers of the drama “Coffee Prince”, especially with some actors who also appeared in that drama. However, the storyline was completely different and people in this pastry shop shared their friendship, delights, complicated love relationship and mystery as well.