Lucky Apartment (2024) Movie Review

『A Heartfelt Story of Two Women Preserving Warmth Amid Loneliness and Discrimination』

🎥 Film Overview

🎬 Title: Lucky Apartment (럭키아파트)(2024)
🌍 Country: 🇰🇷 South Korea
🎞️ Genre: Indie Drama / Social Realism / Queer Cinema
🗓️ Production & Release: Domestic independent film festivals and theatrical release, 2024
📢 Director: Kang Yu-garam

👩‍💼 Cast: Son Su-hyun – Sunwoo, Park Ga-young – Heeseo

🧩 Story Deep Dive (Spoilers)

🕯️ The “Lucky” Apartment: A Microcosm of Korean Society

Director Kang Yu-garam’s first feature film, “Lucky, Apartment”, condenses the pressing social issues of South Korea into one of its most ordinary yet symbolic spaces — the apartment. The protagonists are Sunwoo and Heeseo, a lesbian couple in their ninth year together, who manage to buy a small apartment on the outskirts of Seoul through an “all-in loan,” known colloquially as yeongkkeul (“pulling together even one’s soul” to afford a home). For them, the so-called “Lucky” Apartment is both a haven of stability and a tangible manifestation of their modest desire to join the mainstream middle class.

However, their “Lucky” quickly turns into an “Unlucky” apartment. Sunwoo’s sudden job loss and financial insecurity — combined with the mysterious stench seeping up from the floor below — threaten the peaceful life they had envisioned. What once symbolized comfort now becomes a site of anxiety and disillusionment.

🧨 The Stench: A Metaphor for Hatred, Discrimination, and Lonely Death

The film’s central mystery — the odor — is far more than a physical smell. It becomes a potent metaphor for the pervasive yet conveniently ignored societal afflictions of hatred, discrimination, isolation, and solitary death that linger within Korean society.

The source of the stench is eventually revealed to be the lonely death of an elderly man living alone in the apartment below. Through this revelation, the film exposes the brutal anonymity and disconnection that pervade modern apartment life. The residents care little about the root cause — the isolation and death of a marginalized individual. Instead, their attention fixates solely on the potential drop in property value and the inconvenience to their personal comfort.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Intersection of Minority Solidarity and Class Conflict

Although Sunwoo and Heeseo occupy a marginalized position as sexual minorities, the film subtly reveals the class divide even within their relationship — a tension that deepens their emotional conflict.

• Sunwoo (Son Su-hyun): A precarious contract worker who reacts sensitively to the odor and attempts to extend empathy and solidarity toward the deceased neighbor. Through this, she sees a reflection of her own social vulnerability, standing outside the safety net of institutional support.

• Heeseo (Park Ga-young): A relatively stable office worker, more focused on mortgage payments and less inclined to confront uncomfortable realities. To her, the apartment is a symbol of survival and success; the odor represents merely an obstacle to be eliminated rather than a symptom of social decay.

Their relationship deteriorates as tensions mount, illustrating the harsh reality in which queer couples must not only endure external prejudice but also navigate internal economic and class-based fractures in contemporary Korea.

💞 Hope Through Solidarity: The Strength of Tilled Soil

While the film portrays a world saturated with hate and discrimination — an unmistakably “unlucky” world — it never abandons the possibility of solidarity. Sunwoo’s determination to confront the root of the stench and uncover the truth embodies human empathy and moral responsibility toward the most vulnerable.

In the closing scene, as Sunwoo and Heeseo hold hands again and begin to “till the soil” together, the film transforms despair into resilience — symbolizing the growth and hope of minorities who choose to stand firm in an unkind world.

🎥 Kang Yu-garam’s Realist Aesthetic

Lucky, Apartment incisively captures the interwoven crises of hatred, discrimination, lonely death, real estate obsession, and class conflict through the haunting metaphor of odor. Director Kang Yu-garam, known for her background in documentary filmmaking, channels that grounded sensibility into narrative form — turning the everyday apartment into a screen reflecting the most unsettling realities of modern life.

The nuanced and authentic performances by Son Su-hyun and Park Ga-young vividly depict the emotional dynamics of a same-sex couple, deepening the film’s resonance. In 2024, Lucky, Apartment stands out as a thoughtful and weighty piece of “invisible psychological drama” that confronts the core contradictions of contemporary Korean society.

🎯 Personal Rating (Based on Taste)

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★