Finding Mr. Right (China), Opening Jan. 1

Romance. Comedy. Directed by Xue Xialou. Jiajia (Tang Wei), a pregnant woman from Beijing, arrives in Seattle to have her rich, married lover’s baby. Upon her arrival in the U.S., she heads to an illegal but comfortable maternity house run by a Taiwanese lady, where she intends to stay until the baby is born. For the first few months, Jiajia continues to enjoy her lavish lifestyle, thanks to her “unlimited” credit card provided by her lover back in China. But everything changes when her boyfriend is imprisoned for a white-collar crime in Beijing, and all of his property is confiscated by the authorities. Penniless, alone and pregnant in the foreign city, Jiajia gets hired as a maid in the maternity house, and forms a genuine friendship with Frank (Wu Xiubo), a gentle, kindhearted driver and a single father who used to work as a physician in the past.

Romance. Drama. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos), an ordinary high school girl, falls for a woman with blue hair while walking on the street one day. The two run into each other again at a lesbian bar, and Adele learns that the blue haired girl’s name is Emma (Lea Seydoux) and that she is a college student majoring in fine art. Adele, who has never dated a woman before, eventually moves into Emma’s place, stating a relationship with her. When her family visits her in their shared apartment, however, Adele does not introduce Emma as her girlfriend. Instead, she presents Emma as her friend and a tutor. The film is the winner of Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival.

The Attorney (Korea), Opened Dec. 18

Drama. Directed by Yang Woo-seok. In 1981, Busan-based tax lawyer Song Woo-seok (Song Kang-ho) ends up defending young students who have been tortured for possession of “illegal” literature and suspicion of being communist sympathizers. Before getting involved in the case, Song had been very successful as a tax lawyer, but his experience defending the young men makes him consider specializing in human rights cases. The movie is loosely based on late President Roh Moo-hyun’s early years as a lawyer in the 1980s.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (U.S., New Zealand) Opened Dec. 12

Adventure. Drama. Fantasy. Directed by Peter Jackson. Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) join 13 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to travel into the Kingdom of Erebor. The group is on a mission to defeat the fierce and greedy dragon Smaug in order to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland. The dwarves were once prosperous and lived with great wealth but their kingdom was sacked by Smaug, who flew south from the Ered Mithrin and buried itself in the treasures that used to belong to the dwarves. On the journey to recover their homeland, the dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf come across numerous obstacles and hardships, fighting enemies as well as making allies.

Way Back Home (Korea), Opened Dec. 12

Drama. Directed by Bang Eun-jin. Based on a true story, “Way Back Home” begins when Korean housewife Jang Mi-jeong (Jeon Do-yeon) is asked by her husband’s longtime friend to bring a bag filled with diamonds to France. She arrives in France, but as soon as she sets foot in the airport she is arrested and police discover 17 kilograms of cocaine in her bag. She is forced to serve two years in prison in Martinique, an island in the eastern Caribbean, for alleged drug smuggling. Her husband Kim Jong-bae (Go Soo) works fervently to persuade the French authorities that his wife wasn’t aware that she was carrying cocaine.