2023.10.12 Now Playing

New films "Hopeless," "Miss Fortune," "The Creator" and "Love Reset" are showing in theaters this week.

Hong Xa-bin, left, and Song Joong-ki star as an underling and a middle boss of a local gang in ″Hopeless″ [PLUS M ENTERTAINMENT]

Hopeless (15)

Drama / 124 mins. / Korean / Oct. 11

Hong Xa-bin's Yeon-gyu leads a bleak and depressing life, often suffering from abuse by his stepfather. He saves up money, hoping to escape to the Netherlands with his mother. One day, Yeon-gyu gets caught up in a fight while trying to protect his stepsister Ha-yan and meets Song Joong-ki's Chi-geon, a middle boss of a local gang.

Yeon-gyu starts a new life as the underling of Chi-geon and faces new troubles and more inescapable situations. No matter how helpless his life may seem, he doesn’t give up on saving up enough money to go the Netherlands, the country of his dreams, with his mother.

“Hopeless” was invited to the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes International Film Festival. Song reportedly took on the role of Chi-geon without receiving any payment for his appearance.

Uhm Jung-hwa plays Ji-hye, an ex-con who pulls one last job to steal a cultural heritage artifact, in ″Miss Fortune″ [JNC MEDIA GROUP]

Miss Fortune (12) Comedy / 121 mins. / Korean / Oct. 11

Ex-convict Ji-hye, played by Uhm Jung-hwa, plans her final scheme to earn a fortune by stealing an astronomically priced cultural heritage artifact from two men, a father and son, who come from a family that used to be pro-Japanese during the Japanese colonization.

Ji-hye tries to gather information about the father-son duo and approaches them, disguising as a kind, gentle woman. She makes her daughter Joo-young, played by Bang Min-ah of girl group Girl’s Day, assist her in carrying out the scheme, and the two find themselves in a series of comical interactions in their quest to cheat the owners of the artifact and successfully steal it.

The film is Uhm’s first feature since the 2020 film “Ok! Madam,” and it was directed by Lee Seung-joon, who directed “The Spy” (2013) and “Limit” (2022).

A scene from ″The Creator,″ the latest science fiction film from Disney [WALT DISNEY COMPANY KOREA]

The Creator (12) Science fiction, action / 133 mins. / English / Oct. 3

An artificial intelligence program created to protect mankind drops a nuclear bomb on Los Angeles, and an all-out war breaks out between humanity and AI. Ex-special forces agent Joshua, played by John David Washington, joins the fight, hoping to find hints about the whereabouts of his missing wife.

The main antagonist and target of the humans' mission is called the Creator, a mysterious architect of the advanced AI. A geopolitical war ensues as the United States and its Western allies promise to end the world of AI, while a region in Asia called New Asia continues to use AI despite the resistance from the West.

The film is directed by Gareth Edwards, who previously directed “Monsters” (2010), the rebooted “Godzilla” (2014) and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016).

A scene from the romantic comedy ″30 Days″ starring Kang Ha-neul and Jung So-min [MIND MARK]

Love Reset (12) Romantic comedy / 119 mins. / Korean / Oct. 3

A married couple forgets all of their memories about each other and their married life after getting into a car accident on their way to the court for divorce proceedings.

The couple's surrounding family and friends, desperate to get the two to stay together and have a happily-ever-after ending, encourage them to spend more time with each other and lie to them, saying that they were happy in their marriage. The couple attends outings and social events with each other in an effort to rekindle their affection for each other and tap into their lost memories, and a series of comical situations occur.

Kang Ha-neul and Jung So-min play the couple, while Kim Sun-young, Yoon Kyung-ho and Jo Min-su play supporting roles.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]