ANTIQUE (Korea, 2008)
Directed by: Min Kyu-Dong
Starring: Ju Ji-Hun, Kim Jae-Wook, Yu Ah-In

"Can anyone be unhappy eating cake?" Sun-Woo (Kim Jae-Wook) certainly thought so; he confessed his boy-crush on classmate Jin-Hyuk (Ju Ji-Hun), only to take a gorgeous gateau in the face.  Years later, they reunite: pastry-hating playboy Jin-Hyuk is still a brusque homophobe, while Sun-Woo has blossomed into an Alpha Male gay love god.  Jin-Hyuk is opening the Antique Bakery and needs a master chef. Sun-Woo, the irresistible siren of Parisian patissier circles, is eager for the challenge, but he warns Jin-Hyuk that his charms are mystical beyond human understanding.  "Don't laugh," he deadpans. "I'm a Gay of Demonic Charm."  With this fateful partnership formed, ANTIQUE opens its doors in a sugar-coated swirl of flavored fantasy, and your senses will never be the same. 

As the little cake shop that could becomes the tastiest talk of the town, its multicolored delights are swept off the shelves in a cloud of pixie dust and the everyday grind gives way to musical daydreams, a heady melange of Baz Luhrmann-by-way-of-Willy Wonka.  Days segue into tortured nightmares filled with shadowy demons, however, as Jin-Hyuk flashes back to a dark childhood trauma hidden deep within his subconscious.  When a string of local child abductions leads back to Antique, Jin-Hyuk's personal agenda for opening up the cake shop become clear.  Can the beautiful, beautiful boys of Antique Bakery solve the macabre crimes and stop Sun-Woo from going back to Paris forever?  And why is this movie not presented in Smell-O-Vision?A smash hit at the Japanese box office, ANTIQUE, based on Fumi Yoshinaga's manga Antique Bakery is unlike anything you will see this year: a scrumptious blend of humor, romance, and mystery that celebrates taste as a transcendent experience.  Hallucinogenic color schemes are the icing on every frame of film, and the tropes of shonen ai ("boys' love") drama are evident in the coy, will-they-or-won't-they interplay between Jin-Hyuk and Sun-Woo - the fact that the cast is comprised of four of Korea’s most popular young male pop icons doesn’t hurt.  Whereas Director Min's MEMENTO MORI played with thriller conventions to deliver another GLBT-themed romantic drama, here the gay romance is only the sugar glaze on the larger multi-tiered cake, each layer better than the one before.  Like the best pastries, ANTIQUE has something for everyone in every bite, and must be eaten whole to be believed; to miss out would be to starve.  If at all possible, watch it with cake.