This melodrama stars Arimura Kasumi from We Made a Beautiful Bouquet (2021) and Sakaguchi Kentaro from The Last 10 Years (2022). Saeko (Arimura Kasumi) is struggling with the loss of her boyfriend in a tragic traffic accident and devotes herself to work at a coffee company in Hokkaido. Meanwhile, Naruse (Kentaro Sakaguchi), who received a heart transplant from Saeko’s late boyfriend, finds himself changed after the surgery. His newfound obsession with coffee, which he previously disliked, seems odd to his wife. By chance, Saeko and Naruse end up on the same train, where they strike up a conversation about coffee and develop mutual attraction. While the premise might seem familiar, the film’s charm comes from its rich details and compelling performances by its actors. Director Kurosaki Hiroshi has collaborated Arimura Kasumi through the TV series Hiyokko (2017) and the film Gift of Fire (2020). (NAM Dong-chul)

The Angel (2018) director Luis Ortega returns with another weirdly funny, cool, and sexy thriller where we follow a star jockey, his girlfriend and partner in crime, and a mobster on his tail. Remo’s talents cannot save him from his self-destructive behaviors, and after an unfortunate accident on the most important race of his career, he will walk out of his life to become free. Like a wild horse fleeing from a predator, the unique and surreal tale of Dolores (née Remo) the fugitive is deliciously weaved in a non-judgmental and unapologetic manner. With perfectly timed tongue-in-cheek humor, dreamlike mating dance sequences, and a grand finale where everything comes to full circle, Kill the Jockey declares that Luis Ortega is one of the most intriguing auteurs of contemporary Argentinean cinema. (Karen PARK)

Julie is a promising tennis player at a tennis academy. Just before the Belgian Tennis Federation (BTF) scout test, an unfortunate incident occurs at the academy. After the suicide of another teenage prodigy, Aline, an internal investigation begins, and head coach Jeremy is suspended. People suspect that Julie, Jeremy’s favorite student, might know something and hope she will testify. However, Julie remains silent, focusing solely on her practice. The film carefully builds the drama around this sensitive incident, leaving the specifics of emotional domination and abuse that can occur between a teenage female athlete and an adult male coach largely unstated. Through her silence, the violence of pressuring Julie to speak out is suggested. Meanwhile, Julie slowly comes to understand how she should act. The Dardenne brothers participated as co-producers. (LEE Juhyun)

Mother’s household ledgers contain a lifetime of arduous years. While her memory fades as she grows older, the details of her daily life, meticulously recorded in the household ledgers for 48 years since 1969, remain as traces of her existence. Director Seong Seungtaek discovered these ledgers among his elderly parents’ belongings when they moved in together after 30 years apart. Carefully examining those records, which are both precious documentation of his family history and his mother’s intimate diary, the director creates another important historical document. As Mother’s Household Ledger gradually intertwines the family story with modern Korean history and their shared memories, our hearts are profoundly stirred. The mother wrote down the passage of time, and the son now illuminates the world imbued with that time. (HONG Eunmi)

A couple on the brink of breaking up decide to spend one last day together to resuscitate their relationship until sunrise at an inn on the East coast. With just 15 minutes left until sunrise, they wait—perhaps for a breakup or the end of the world. This minimalist film, set in a confined space and filled with close-ups of the two actors, tells a story about light. (KANG Sowon)

Director Hur Jin-ho’s film, A Normal Family, is based on the best-selling novel The Dinner by Dutch author Herman Koch. Here, two couples gather for a conversation. Jae-wan (Sul Kyung-gu), a lawyer driven by success, and Jae-gyu (Jang Dong-gun), a pediatrician who strictly adheres to principles, are brothers. Their wives, Ji-su (Claudia Kim) and Yeon-kyung (Kim Hee-ae), join them as the four grapple with the implications of their children’s crime captured on CCTV. As the evening progresses, what begins as a seemingly elegant dinner reveals uncomfortable truths. A Normal Family navigates the precarious space between morality and reality, as well as between convictions and desires, raising a variety of challenging questions. The restrained performances of the actors heighten the tension, while Hur Jin-ho’s expertise in capturing the intricacies of relationships and emotions shines through, showcasing his exceptional skill as a director. (SONG Kyung-won)

For 12-year-old Zaffan, starting her period is not a gift but a sin. Her mother blames her for showing signs of femininity, and her best friends bully her for being unclean. When the all-too-natural process of secondary puberty collides with the discrimination and oppression faced by women in a conservative society, growing up naturally becomes twisted and deformed. Tiger Stripes is inspired by Malaysian filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu’s own alienation as an adolescent when she began her period. The fear and isolation she felt, as though she were “like a monster,” became the foundation for this genre film. Zaffan’s transformation into a tiger—a creature both feared and revered by her community—empowers her to embrace the changes in her body and confront society’s prejudices with dignity. The film stands out as a unique coming-of-age story, breaking away from the typical body horror and feminist clichés that often degrade women’s bodies. Its failure to pass the censorship in Malaysia reflects the film’s contextual background. (LEE Hwajung)

In the 20th century, people would watch romance movies about online dating such as The Contact (1997) and were astonished by the idea that romantic feelings could develop in a ’contactless’ context. Now, living in the age of artificial intelligence, we realize that sometimes the virtual world can open up new realms that surpass the real one. Mats, who passed away at the young age of 25 due to a degenerative disease, had a secret that even his closest family members were unaware of. Lonely and depressed, Mats logged into World of Warcraft (WOW) every night and became ‘Ibelin’, bickering with guild members, flirting with a fellow female gamer, and listening to the troubles of struggling friends. Benjamin Lee, who was praised for opening new horizons in documentary filmmaking with The Painter and the Thief (2020), returns with The Remarkable Life of Ibelin. With an affectionate and poignant touch, his new film revisits the intense life of an incredible young man, brought to life through digital technology. (Karen PARK)

Living a life tied to an old, worn-down house, Nidhi makes a phone call to her childhood self. “You are me,” she says. In the film, the protagonist moves through the house, capturing sounds with a boom mic and transmitting her words back to the past. In the place full of spirits, the interplay between past and present is expressed through sounds. Nidhi’s childhood memories are stained with the absence of her father and her mother’s depression, and now, as an adult, she finds herself sinking into the same deep depression her mother once experienced. Poetically portraying a woman’s inner world, this film presents a mother-daughter relationship tangled in love and resentment, all seeming to merge into a single character—the narrator. In the final scene, as Nidhi finally steps out of the house, the camera, which had been confined to the dark interior of the house, captures a ghostly gaze moving across an open space, layering the scene with deeper meaning. (HONG Soin)

Souleymane is an asylum seeker from Guinea, Africa, who delivers food by bike in Paris. He’s two days away from an important interview to gain legal residency, but his day-to-day life as a refugee and delivery worker is precarious, like walking a tightrope. He’s always running out of time and money. Since he has to work as a delivery driver using someone else’s permit, he has to rush to check the app’s identity verification alarms, hurry to catch the last bus to the homeless shelter and run to gather money to pay the refugee broker. On the day of his interview to determine his eligibility for refugee status, Souleymane tells a “fake” story that he has memorized, as advised by his broker. The highlight of the film, which creates an overwhelming sense of immersion and tension, is this interview scene. After listening to Souleymane’s story, which includes political imprisonment and torture, the interviewer demands that he tell his “real” story. This film won the Jury Prize and Best Actor Award in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. (LEE Juhyun)

It’s 1997. Ai fails to enter the prestigious First Girl’s High School and is forced by her mother to enroll in the school’s night program instead. The day and night students share classrooms and wear the same uniform but different colored name tags. Ai ends up sharing a desk with Min, a day student who soon becomes her close friend. Spending time with Min and wearing Min’s uniform, Ai momentarily feels as though she belongs among the day students, and one day she meets a boy named Lu Ke who sets her heart aflutter. Set against the backdrop of a school, a place of cherished memories and a microcosm of the social hierarchy dictated by academic success, The Uniform skillfully portrays the story of teenagers navigating love, friendship, disappointment, and growth. This tender coming-of-age drama features a cast of talented young Taiwanese actors, including Chen Yan-fei, who won the Golden Horse Award for Best Newcomer for her performance in The Silent Forest (2020). (PARK Sun Young)

In the early 20th century, Karoline, desperate to make ends meet while working at a textile factory that produces military supplies, suddenly finds herself out on the streets. Pregnant with an illegitimate child, she wanders through the alleys of Copenhagen, until Dagmar, offering a glimmer of hope, extends a helping hand. With the prospect of placing the child for adoption with a wealthy family, the two grow closer. However, the reality Karoline faces is far more wretched, and the truth about Dagmar is nothing short of horrifying. The Girl with the Needle feels like a strange and brutal fairy tale. In the woods, when a girl is lost and falls under the spell of a witch, what choice does she really have? Can it even be called a ‘choice?’ Throughout the consistently grim, monochromatic atmosphere, Karoline, with her weary expression, is not a girl dreaming of transforming a frog into a prince with a kiss. The girl with the needle clings to life, refusing to let go of her attachment to it, in a desolate attempt to escape the cruel wheel of misfortune. (Karen PARK)