Be With You (2018) a romantic K-drama with fantasy elements adapted from a Japanese novel
Be With You (2018) a romantic K-drama with fantasy elements adapted from a Japanese novel is streaming on Netflix.
NETFLIX – “Be With You” is a 2018 South Korean fantasy romance, marking the third time when Takuji Ichikawa’s 2003 novel with the same name got screened. Nobuhiro Doi’s Japanese drama movie was released in 2004; followed quickly next year by a 10-episodes TV series on Japan’s TBS.
“Be With You (2018)” starring So Ji-sub and Son Ye-jin, follows the story of Woo-jin and Soo-a, a married couple living happily in the countryside with their son. Their life will dramatically change when Soo-a dies suddenly. Woo-jin does his best to take care of their son. Ji-ho belives his mother will return a year later during the rainy season.
To everyone’s surprise, a year following her death, the family reunites with Soo-a. However, she has no memories of who Woo-jin (her husband) and Ji-ho (her son) are.
Based on “Be With You” by Takuji Ichikawa
Hangul 지금 만나러 갑니다 | Original title Jigeum mannareo gabmida
Directed by Lee Jang-hoon | Written by Kang Soo-jine, Lee Jang-hoon
Release date 14 March 2018 | Running time 131 minutes
Facts
- Lee Jang-hoon made a successful debut as the director of “Be With You (2018).”
- The film was screened as the first 2018’s teaser for the London Korean Film Festival.
- There is charming and flawless chemistry between the two protagonists.
WHAT’S THE STORY?
The 2018 version of “Be With You” opens up with beautiful animation, following a family of penguins where the mother has to leave in a “place between heaven and Earth,” but promises to return during the next rainy season.
The actual movie starts at the funeral of Soo-A (Son Ye-Jin). She leave behind a husband to mourn her premature death and take care of their son Ji-Ho (Kim Ji-Hwan). Before leaving this earth, Soo-A made an odd promise that she will returns in one year during the coming rainy season. Woo-Jin struggle with a bad health condition, while the young boy believes his deceased mother will keep her promise and come back next year on a rainy day.
In a blunt moment of fantasy, one year and one day after her death, Soo-A returns as the rains start to fall. The strange woman has no memory of her life and family. To help Soo-ah remember her past, Woo-jin story tells her about how they met and their life together.
Sadly their reunion will be short-lived because, by the end of the rainy season, Soo-ah has to leave her family forever. The ending of Be with You is bittersweet. After a heartbreaking goodbye, Sooh-ah disappears.
The good part is that both Woo-jin and Ji-ho got to see Soo-ah. Though we wished for a miracle to extend her stay with her son, it never happened. Despite minor plot gaps, the film Be With You (2018) has an essence that alone makes it worth watching.
A heartwarming fantasy that includes the concept of time travel, even though the whole story revolves around it, is not too much emphasis on it.
Main Cast and characters of ”Be with You (2018)”
So Ji-sub portrays Jung Woo-jin, as a sensitive, caring husband and father. I can understand why she fell in love with him.
Son Ye-jin portrays Im Soo-ah, the beautiful deceased wife whom everybody is mourning.
Kim Ji-hwan plays Jung Ji-ho, the couple’s child, who wins you with his charming innocence.
Kim Hyun-soo plays young Soo-ah, the young girl we will see in the flashbacks.
Lee Yoo-jin portrays young Woo-jin, the young boy who fell in love in high school.
More about it
This Korean fantasy romance is sprinkled with humor with a big reveal at the end, a final firmly rooted in fantasy. The first half of the movie is a bit boring and cheesy. However, things improve in the second part of the movie, as the story of “Be With You” unravels.
The director Lee Jang-Hoon allows us to watch Woo-Jin and Soo-A fall in love twice, both in the main story and via a series of flashbacks from their high school infatuation to awkward courtship days.
