2020.3.19 Now Playing
Horror, Thriller / 103 mins. / English / March 19
“We take care of women like you.”
In October 1957, Mary, unmarried and pregnant, seeks refuge at a convent called Sisters of Divinity after a nun advises her to do so.
She enters the convent hoping to ease some of the financial burden of having a child. However, after she arrives, a cluster of terrified single mothers greet her.
The convent follows a strange but strict set of rules and Mary is overwhelmed by horror at the “punishment” she may face if she breaks the rules. She is renamed Agatha, and as the days pass she discovers some terrible secrets that prevent anyone from leaving.
Dreamer (15)
Drama, Crime / 89 mins. / Korean / March 19
Geun-soo is a defector from North Korea who risked everything to escape to South Korea. However, life in the South isn’t that easy either. He makes a living by working as a drug mule. He meets a lowlife named Ji-hyeok who attempts to persuade him to run off with hundreds of millions of won worth of drugs.
Both young men believe that only money will be able to turn their lives around, and on Geun-soo’s next haul, they plan to steal 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) of philopon, worth 2 billion won ($1.6 million).
Will the two underdogs get away with it and get everything that they’ve ever dreamed of, or will they fall into a trap that they can’t escape from?
Fantasy, Mystery / 92 mins. / English / March 19
When Uma wakes up, she finds herself in a strange room on an island called Paradise.
As the name implies, Paradise is full of all forms of entertainment for women to enjoy. The girls on the island, including Uma, are patients sent there by their families to undergo rehabilitation for their “rebellious” behavior. When they are done with their treatments, they are allowed to return home.
But Uma is suspicious and does not believe what those in charge are telling her, and she plans an escape with her two roommates, Yu and Chloe.
During their escape they find out the horrifying reasons why they were being kept on the island.
Emma Roberts stars as Uma, with Danielle Macdonald and Awkwafina playing her friends Chloe and Yu. Jeremy Irvine and Milla Jovovich also appear in the film.
The Nightmare (19)
Mystery, Horror / 100 mins. / Korean / March 12
Filmmaker Yeon-woo is still struggling with the aftermath of his daughter’s death after a car accident.
Still living in sorrow, Yeon-woo suffers from insomnia, but he still needs to finish making the film that he started before the tragedy. At an audition, he meets Su, a rookie actor, and he can’t hide his surprise - she is the women with a snake tattoo that keeps reappearing in his nightmares.
Su is cast in the film and production finally begins. One day, however, Yeon-woo wakes up in a different reality where he is making a film about a father’s loss of his daughter. In this world, Su is his wife. While he shifts from one world to the other, Yeon-woo grows more and more confused about what is real and what’s not.
Family, Drama / 127 mins. / Japanese / March 12
In 1969, Japan’s economy is thriving and a Korean family settles in a small town near the Kansai airport in Osaka. The family consists of Yong-gil, Young-soon, their three daughters Shizuka, Rika and Mika, and the youngest son Tokio.
Shizuka and Rika are Yong-gil’s daughters from a previous marriage, while Mika is from Yong-soon’s last marriage. Although it’s their second marriage, the family cares for each other with love.
The family runs a gopchang (grilled cow intestine) restaurant called “Yakiniku Dragon,” but business is poor. They also face discrimination, but march on in the hopes of a better day to come. However, their dreams are tarnished when the government declares that the town is state-owned and orders everyone out. With nowhere to go, the family starts to turn against one another.
Actors Kim Sang-ho and Lee Jung-eun play Yong-gil and Young-soon. The three daughters and the son are played by Japanese actors Yoka Maki, Mao Inoue, Nanami Sakuraba and Shinpei Ooe.
Dark Waters (15)
Drama, Thriller / 127 mins. / English / March 11
In Parkersburg, West Virginia, a mysterious series of deaths are occurring: 190 cattle suddenly die showing symptoms of bloated organs, blackened teeth and tumors. Residents are saying that they often feel nauseous and suffer from high fevers, while an unusually high number of babies with deformities are born.
Robert Bilott, a lawyer at the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, is asked by Wilbur Tennant, a friend of his grandmother’s, to investigate the deaths and sicknesses in the city.
What Bilott discovers is horrifying. He finds that DuPont, an American chemical manufacturing company, has been dumping hundreds of gallons worth of unregulated chemical toxins called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) into the city river. PFOA, when consumed, does not leave the bloodstream and accumulates within the body. Although the conglomerate was aware of the hazardous effects of the acid for decades, they allowed the chemical to seep into everyday objects such as frying pans, contact lenses and even baby mats.
After making the discovery, Bilott files a lawsuit at the risk of not only his career, but also his wife’s and the livelihood of his family.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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