Lesbian couple Sun-woo and Hee-suh buy a small apartment, which they’ve put everything for. But when Sun-woo loses her job and injures her leg, their relationship begins to sour while Hee-suh is sorely responsible for paying the mortgage and interest. Their stress level reaches a fever pitch when a foul odor starts to emanate from downstairs.

Depicting how the conflict between a same-sex couple manifests within the structure of Korean society, Lucky, Apartment breaks new ground in Korean queer cinema: it is a brilliant social drama that reveals the reality of our treatment of minorities. Hee-suh, a pharmaceutical company employee and Sun-woo, who lost her temp job, have been a same-sex couple for 9 years. Despite their objective economic differences, they don’t make a big deal of it. However, when they move into an apartment, the conflict between Hee-suh, who provided most of the budget for the apartment purchase, and Sun-woo, who contributed almost nothing, begins to grow. The foul odor from downstairs further widens the gap between the couple. While Sun-woo’s frantic search for the source of the smell puts her at odds with the residents, including the ringleader of the neighborhood, who blames her for the decline in apartment prices, Hee-suh, who is stressed by the gender discrimination she experiences at work, criticizes Sun-woo’s behavior, fearing that their relationship as a couple will become known to others. Their relationship then goes from bad to worse. Another virtue of Lucky, Apartment is that it inserts a ray of hope through love and solidarity into a story of conflict and exclusion. When Sun-woo breaks into the apartment downstairs to fulfil a wish from a friend of the old lady who lived there, who wants a photo of the deceased, Hee-suh asks why. Sun-woo answers, “Because I didn’t feel like I was a stranger.” This touching line leads to the beautiful last scene. Having made feminist documentaries, including Itaewon (2016), Candle Wave Feminists (2017), and Us, Day by Day (2019), Kangyu Garam displays excellent promise in Lucky, Apartment, her first feature film. (MOON Seok)