South Korea is a country which is - quite rightly - gaining an ever increasing respect from those who appreciate good cinema for it's top quality output. Love Bakery is a film which in my opinion proves that, even the less well known Korean films are well worth seeking out. Briefly the story centers on Noh-myung, a baker and his wife Jung-hee. He starts to notice that she's sighing a lot, guessing that she is missing something in life, he tries to cheer her up but fails. One day, a new customer Mu-suk walks into the shop.
Mu-suk brings a spring back into her life; Mu-suk though is married to a battleaxe of a woman - Hae-sook who beats him up (Rather hilariously actually). Noh-myung believes that his bread is the "dog's danglies", he is jealous of his wife's visitor, and believes that he is a better man than him (Or maybe he just has to try to convince himself of this).
I liked this movie, there's a real sense of the absurd throughout that someone can be so passionate about bread (And you thought Star Trek fans were single minded!) There are some thoughtful moments, along with many plain silly scenes (The one where Mu-suk enters the bakery in Noh-myung's dream as a "terminator" and proceeds to pelt Noh-myung with loaves for example). I don't want to give too much away, I'll summarise by saying if you're in the mood for a lightweight but good film, you could do a lot worse than Love Bakery.
