Soulmate Movie Review: Korean Remake Of 2016 Chinese Hit, Starring Kim Dami And Jeon Sonee, Is A Faithful Adaptation Set On Jeju Island

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25 Mar, 2023

Soulmate Movie Review: Korean Remake Of 2016 Chinese Hit, Starring Kim Dami And Jeon Sonee, Is A Faithful Adaptation Set On Jeju Island

Mi Seo is quirky and friendly, Ha Yoon is cute and introverted. They quickly became friends until a handsome boy caused a rift between them.
This remake of Derek Tsang's 2016 hit Soulmate is faithful to the original story but more reserved, making the ending harder to swallow.

3/5 stars

In 2016, Hong Kong director Derek Tsang Kwok-chung achieved critical and commercial success with Soulmate , a film about two childhood friends whose devotion to one another is reflected in their adult lives.

The film won numerous international awards, including a rare joint award for Best Actress at the Golden Horse Awards for stars Zhou Dongyu and Ma Xichun.

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Now South Korean director Min Yong-Gin is trying to recapture that success with his remake, which takes the story to a remote and beautiful spot on Jeju Island, with rising stars Kim Da-Min ( Itaewon Klass ) and John Suni at the helm. . Role. role of the main character. Role.

Eccentric and outgoing Mi-Seon (Kim) and her mother move from city to city, eventually settling in Jeju, where she meets the beautiful but introverted Ha Yoon (Yung).

The unlikely pair soon become friends, and Ha Yoon's family hugs Mi So when her mother fails again.

Byun Woo Seok (left) as Jin Woo and Kim Da Mi as Mi So

The couple's inseparable friendship is put to the test by handsome Jin-woo (Byun Woo-seok), with whom Ha-eun has fallen in love but secretly has a crush on Mi-soo. His presence causes a rift between the girls that takes years to reconcile.

Through a series of flashbacks, Soulmate introduces us to Mi-soo as a successful businessman and single mother living in Seoul.

He is approached by an art gallery who received a large, colorful sketch of Mi Seo as a teenager and hopes it will help them bond with artist Ha Yoon. This leads her to her friend's old blog, which chronicles their troubled friendship and forces Mi So to relive her rebellious youth.

Ming's adaptation is a gentler, more restrained retelling of Tsang's brutal story; He doesn't mind showing life's hardships in somber detail.

Ming has a florid nostalgia for the late '90s and early 2000s, celebrating the couple's innocence over their brutal real-life experiences.

Thankfully, neither version muddies the waters of their friendship with uncomfortable hints of same-sex attraction, instead glorifying the fact that they're one and the same kindred spirit.

Essentially, adapting Ming properly makes the story more accessible to younger audiences who can relate to him and his on-screen struggles.

However, Ming's timid approach makes the film almost incomprehensible in some cases, especially when the girls repeatedly joke about their breasts.

His reticence also makes the film's somewhat comical ending a bit difficult, as the former doesn't subject the character to the same life lessons as Tsang's film.

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