Anna Lee’s The Recipe starts out feeling like a mockumentary, but turns into something softer and gauzier that probably ought to be simulcast on Lifetime and the Food Network. Fortunately, the concoction still tastes pretty agreeable. Choi Yu-jin, a television producer from Seoul, learns that the dying wish of a recently executed mass murderer was for a bowl of doenjang jjigae (bean curd soup). Intrigued, Choi embarks on a mission to discover the origins of the killer’s favorite dish. His research takes him through the Korean countryside, where he eventually tracks the doenjang to a mysterious young woman, Jang Hye-jin, whose masterful recipe—made from a unique salt, baby pigs, flower petals, winemaker’s yeast, and of course, love—inadvertently brought the killer to his knees. It’s a wispy, magical exploration of national pride, true romance, and delicious food, and though The Recipe lacks the complexity of Jang Hye-jin’s soup, it’s still worth a taste.

At 6:30 p.m.; also on Thursday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. Both showings at Regal Cinemas Gallery Place.