2023.11.2 Now Playing

New films "The Boys," "Talk To Me," "Stimulant," "Kyrie," "The Boy and the Heron" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" are showing in theaters this week.

A scene from ″The Boys″ [CJ ENM]

The Boys (15) Drama, crime / 124 mins. / Korean / Nov. 1

An owner of a small grocery shop is robbed and killed in 1999, and three village boys are quickly blamed as the suspects in the horrendous case.

Newly commissioned police officer Hwang Jun-cheol tries to clear their names after being tipped off by a villager, but his efforts are rendered weak due to the corrupt system and interests surrounding the villagers, headed by the then-chief inspector Choi Woo-seong. Jun-cheol is demoted, but he must once again face his unresolved past when he is faced by the three boys and a witness to the case, 16 years later.

Actors Sul Kyung-gu and Yoo Jun-sang take the lead as Jun-cheol and Woo-seong, respectively.

Based on the true story of the Samrye Nara Super robbery incident, which occurred in Wanju County in North Jeolla in 1999, “The Boys” is directed by Chung Ji-young, known for “North Korean Partisan in South Korea” (1990), “White Badge” (1992), “Unbowed” (2012) and “National Security” (2012).

A scene from ″Talk To Me″ [LOTTE ENTERTAINMENT]

Talk To Me (15) Horror, thriller / 95 mins. / English / Nov. 1

Take the hand of a dead person and whisper, "talk to me," and get ready to be possessed by a ghost. Ask any question you would like, but remember never to go over 90 seconds.

A group of friends gets addicted to the ghost-possessing challenge hot online, but things go awry when Mia's friend Riley becomes possessed by Mia's dead mother, and Mia fails to remember the 90-second rule in the presence of her beloved family. Revolving around high school students Mia, Jade and Riley, "Talk To Me" is a horror film venturing around the idea of spirituality and tapping into the afterlife. It has gotten a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is receiving wide acclaim for its original story.

Actors Sophie Wilde, Zeo Terakes, Miranda Otto and Joe Bird play the leading roles. "Talk To Me" premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival last year and was released first in Australia, receiving positive reviews.

The film is currently a box office success, grossing $90 million worldwide against a budget of $4.5 million. A sequel is also in development.

A scene from ″Simulant″ [SPECIAL MOVIE CITY]

Simulant (15) Sci-fi / 95 mins. / English / Nov. 2

In the near future, when AIs have become advanced enough to replace humans, a group of AIs led by a hacker will rise against the government, which tries to control the AIs and make them behave according to humans' will.

A woman replaces her deceased husband with an AI "simulant," but the husband himself does not realize that he is an AI. When the simulant, Evan, faces the danger of being terminated, he enlists the help of a hacker who attempts to release the simulant's abilities and inner thoughts. The government, afraid of an AI uprising initiated by Evan's case and the hacker, tries to suppress the movement.

Robbie Amell, Jordana Brewster, Sam Worthington and Simu Liu star in leading roles in "Simulant," directed by Canadian director April Mullen.

A scene from ″Kyrie″ [MEDIA CASTLE]

Kyrie (15) Drama / 119 mins. / Japanese / Nov. 1

A young girl named Luca, who calls herself Kyrie after going through a tragic accident, is homeless and makes ends meet through busking. She reunites with a childhood friend, Ikko, who becomes her manager.

The film follows the characters over a span of 13 years and tells the story of why Luca — or Kyrie — became homeless and the aftermath of the accident that occurred in 2011. The friendship between Kyrie and Ikko develops deeply as the two travel around Japan and sing. Kyrie can only speak in whispers unless she is singing, and the story behind this is also unveiled later in the film.

Written, directed and edited by Shunji Iwai, the legendary director behind the film “Love Letter” (1995), “Kyrie” was screened at this year’s Busan International Film Festival.

A scene from ″The Boy and the Heron″ [DAEWON MEDIA]

The Boy and the Heron (All) Animation / 124 mins. / Japanese / Oct. 25

During the Pacific War in 1943, 11-year-old Mahito Maki’s mother is killed in a fire. Mahito must grasp his grief and struggle to adjust to a life without his mother and form a relationship with his new stepmother, his mother’s younger sister.

Mahito lives at an old estate provided by his factory-owning father, at which he is pestered by a heron, a large bird living on the estate. Mahito soon finds out the true identity of the heron and also discovers a book that his late mother had left for him, titled “How Do You Live?” with a handwritten note inside. Mahito then ventures into an alternate world.

From the Japanese auteur and animation master Hayao Miyazaki, “The Boy and the Heron” references the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburo Yoshino, which is also the book that appears in the film, but has an entirely original story from Yoshino’s book. “The Boy and the Heron” is Miyazaki’s first film in 10 years, after his retirement announcement in 2013 with the animation “The Wind Rises.”

A scene from ″Killers of the Flower Moon″ [APPLE TV+]

Killers of the Flower Moon (19) Crime, drama / 206 mins. / English / Oct. 19

A con man and his gullible nephew go deep into the heart of the Osage Native American reservation in Oklahoma to get their hands on some of the oil money that the Osage people have.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a man who returns from World War I to his rancher uncle, William King Hale, played by Robert De Niro. After committing robbery upon the Osage people with his brother Byron, Ernest gets involved in his uncle’s scheme to take an Osage woman’s oil ownership. But Ernest soon falls in love with the woman, Mollie, and things get complicated.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” is director Martin Scorsese’s 26th feature film. Both DiCaprio and De Niro have had long histories of working together with Scorsese.

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