According to ANN, the adaptation is directed by Min Gyu Dong, and will star Joo Ji Hoon in the role of the shop owner (the Keisuke character in the manga) and Kim Jae Wok as the genius pastry maker character (Yusuke Ono in the manga). The film will be released in November in Korea and soon after in Japan and Singapore.
I think Antique Bakery is an awesome series. I read it a few years ago on the recommendation of my buddy (and manga overlord) Jason Thompson, and it was my first real foray into the world of shonen ai. I'm still generally a n00b in the genre, but I am always down with good storytelling no matter what the format. So yeah, I strongly and heartily recommend these books for people who like food and cakes and/or non-retarded but soap-opera style depictions of gay men double-crossing while making ornate French pastries. It's got some heartstrings-pulling too, a la Maisson Ikkoku. NICE.
Here is the recently released trailer for the film to check out! (Whoa, what the hell is up with this music?!)
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ReplyDeleteIt totally makes sense that the Koreans are making this into a film right now. In the world of K-dramas, pastry chefs (as well as hoteliers, baristas, chefs, etc) have been extremely popular. in fact, the long-haired guy in the trailer who plays the "gay" in this movie was a character in a drama called "Coffee Prince", which is about the zany adventures of a cross-dressing girl who works at a coffee shop staffed exclusively by male model types. (I confess, i watched this entire series. DON'T TELL ANYONE). And that points to another trend in Korean entertainment, "alternative sexuality". Years ago there was the transgender dancer/singer Harisu, who was immediately popular in mainstream entertainment because she was so flippin hot, and the portrayal of an actual Korean king as gay, with his hot boy court jester in the film "The King and the Clown", and of course, Coffee Prince, in which a handsome man falls for the boy-looking girl (ex-member of girlband Baby Vox) and comes to terms with his "homosexuality" . So the time was ripe for a movie like "Antique" to happen. Disappointingly, despite its appealing portrayal in the media, Koreans are still really homophobic and gay Koreans are still really closeted.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, there's my two cents. i want to watch this shit now
That trailer is hot! I'm already in love with the movie. lol
ReplyDeletelooks interesting. the song in the trailer is in my head now..
ReplyDeletein an almost completely unrelated note, has anyone seen the American remake of My Sassy Girl?
it's ...not very good.
I always thought that the Japanese got to this first, as they already made the dorama 'Antique'. Checking the details, the series was apparently televised in Japan around the end of 2001. Same names, same setting and characters. Makes sense that they got to it first since they do happen to adapt a LOT of manga for TV.
ReplyDeleteNo overly gay undertones from that version, or so I believe.
@Hellen: I totally think you're right... It's interesting to see how Korean dramas and movies embed all this weird gender-fuckery but the society can't compile and process the idea of it outside of media spectacle and as a real, every-day thing. It seems like a great fit for this adaptation though.
ReplyDeleteYou should borrow this series sometime-- it's supremely unique and even and compelling.
@eric: Haha, I can't wait to see it either.
@jaclyn: I haven't seen the My Sassy Girl remake. I feel like they scrapped it and sent it to Direct-to-DVD hell? I have a really hard time imagining an American remake being able to contain and handle the distinctly Korean way of having MASSIVE tonal shifts and genre-mashing going on constantly.
@JE: You're right-- there have been a few different adaptations of this (the Japanese TV series, an anime, and now the Korean film). I think the movie may be the best take on it... The manga doesn't have gay undertones, it IS about gay men and their romances, plain and simple. It avoids some (but not all) cliches in Japan and manga about gays, and features 3 gay main characters.
I've never seen such a funny trailer! I want to see the movie now as well.. The music makes me laugh, its so cool ^^
ReplyDeleteI even read some parts of the manga but the film seems so deifferent.
thanks for sowhing the traileeer=D