South Korean film “Peafowl” is a flawed but interesting queer family melodrama mainly distinguished by the strong lead performance at its center. Even when the movie unfortunately stumbles in one way or another due to its blatant plot contrivance, it is still supported well by its undeniably charismatic lead performer, and her memorable raw performance will keep you engaged enough to forgive several shortcomings in the film.

The story is mainly about Sin-myeong (Choi Hae-jun, who is also known as Haejun), a transgender Waacking dancer living in Seoul. In the beginning, we see her trying to win the top prize money at the local dance competition for paying for her upcoming gender transition surgery, and she is quite disappointed not only because she eventually fails but also because she is told later that she does not have her own color to distinguish herself more.

Meanwhile, there comes an unexpected phone call from someone in her past. That person in question is Woo-gi (Kim Woo-kyum), who has been the favorite pupil of her estranged father known quite well for his respected “Nongak” (traditional farmers’ music) career. After Sin-myeong came out, her father cut ties with her, but now he passed away, and Woo-gi wants her to attend her father’s funeral at least.

Even though she still feels a lot of anger and resentment toward her father, Sin-myeong eventually returns to her rural hometown, and it goes without saying that she is not welcomed much when she comes to her father’s funeral. While her aunt is mostly fine with her niece’s current appearance, her aunt’s husband is not so pleased to say the least, and that surely reminds Sin-myeong again of why she left her hometown and father.

And then Woo-gi tells her something which draws her attention. According to him, Sin-myeong’s father wanted her to perform a traditional memorial ritual for him, and Woo-gi promises her that she will receive a considerable amount of cash in exchange for that. Sin-myeong is initially reluctant, but she comes to accept the deal after getting some advice from a local fortune teller in her neighborhood in Seoul, and Woo-gi is willing to help her during the following preparation period.

It does not take much time for Sin-myeong to get more accustomed to what she has nearly forgotten for many years, but she soon comes to face a number of troubles just for being proud of who she is in front of others around her. While Woo-gi does not have any problem with her current gender identity, the aunt’s husband remains as hostile as before due to his homophobia/transphobia, and Sin-myeong comes to have more doubt about whether her father really wanted her to perform that ritual.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by director/writer Byun Sung-bin gets more melodramatic and contrived as Sin-myeong happens to sense and discover a certain hidden fact about someone in the town. For protecting that figure in question, she willingly lets herself misunderstood by her aunt’s husband and several others in the town, and this also puts more strain on her relationship with Woo-gi, who naturally becomes quite frustrated and exasperated despite his good-willed intention behind helping Sin-myeong.

It is rather disappointing to see how the story resolves its complicated personal conflicts too conveniently during the last act, and I also wish the movie delved more into the interesting details of Nongak. It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that our heroine eventually accomplishes her personal task in the end, but her bold attempt to mix old and new stuffs together for the ritual could be more effective for us if we got to know more about Nongak in advance.

Nevertheless, the admirable integrity of Choi Haejun’s good performance continued to hold my attention throughout the film. As a real-life female transgender figure who is also known well as a professional Waacking dancer, she surely has all the right stuffs for playing her character from the beginning, and she also did a commendable job of conveying her to us character’s strength and vulnerability. As a result, we come to have more understanding and empathy on her character along the story, and that is the main reason why it is touching to observe when Sin-myeong finally comes to find her own color around the end of the movie.

In contrast, several supporting performers around Choi are rather under-utilized as mostly stuck in their broad archetype roles. While Kim Woo-kyum brings some genuine decency to his thankless supporting part, Ko Jae-hyun, Hwang Jung-min, and Kim Jin-soo are merely required to fill their respective spots, and Ki Joo-bong appears as Sin-myeong’s father during one brief scene later in the film.

Overall, “Peafowl” could be more improved here and there, but you will not easily forget its unforgettable transgender heroine and the lead performer behind her, who is really a force to reckon with in my trivial opinion. It will be interesting to see whether the movie will give Choi a significant career breakthrough in the near future, and I sincerely hope that the movie also will bring more awareness and sensitivity on gender identity and sexuality to many South Korean audiences out there.