Delicately drawn image of friendship... ‘Soulmate’

연합뉴스 / 2023-03-01 11:39:29

▲ This photo, provided by NEW, shows the film 'Soulmate.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲This photo, provided by NEW, shows the film 'Soulmate.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Mar. 1 (Yonhap) -- On a hot and sunny summer day in 1998, a transfer student Miso (Kim Soo-hyung) appears in front of young Ha-eun (Ryu Ji-an) who was taking a class.

Miso for some reason left her bag and ran out of the classroom. Ha-eun takes Miso's school bag and hands it over, and the two become friends.

The movie "Soulmate" depicts the ups and downs of the relationship between the two childhood friends as adults.

Friendship and love are often considered to be based on different emotions. However, deep friendship is much like what's called feelings of love. This is the psychological alienation felt when a close friend has a lover, and when physical distance becomes distant and they cannot share each other's daily lives as before.

As soon as you find a strange appearance in a friend who thought you knew everything, the form of friendship will change. Through the relationship between Miso and Ha-eun, the movie delicately captures the changes in emotions that may have been felt by friends or precious beings when they were young.

Miso and Ha-eun, who grew up in different environments, have the opposite personality and way of life.

Miso (Kim Dami), who grew up in her father's absence, has lived with her mother who does not pay affection and attention to her, and moved frequently and transferred schools. On the other hand, Ha-eun (Jeon So-nee), who grew up being loved by her parents, has never left Jeju, where she was born. Miso, a high school student, is a student who causes problems here and there, but Ha-eun is a calm model student who meets her parents' expectations.

Like the light and shadow that are different but attached, the two always stand by each other. However, as Ha-eun has someone she likes, the relationship changes.

The remake of the Hong Kong film "Soulmate" tried to differentiate itself by changing the detailed setting while maintaining the original frame and emotional line.

The biggest difference is that the material of painting is put on the front. The painting in the movie effectively reveals the character and situation of Miso and Ha-eun and serves as a medium for connecting the relationship between the two.

Miso, who even paints the heart of a cat, enjoys drawing free-spirited abstract paintings like her personality, and Ha-eun, who captures the same real-life paintings with a pencil, enjoys still life paintings.

The movie seems to have succeeded in naturally melting Korean emotions in the process of unraveling the time background that continues from the late 1990s. Retro-style props such as folder phones, digital cameras, key chains, and arcades evoke memories for those who spent their youth in those days.

The beauty of Jeju Island, the main background of the film, also adds the fun of seeing. Director Min Yong-geun captured the growing process of Miso and Ha-eun like a picture in Jeju's green and sparkling scenery.

Kim Dami and Jeon So-nee's acting brings convincing and immersion to the rapidly changing relationship between Miso and Hae-eun. In particular, Kim Da-mi shows both Jo Yi-seo's bouncy appearance in the drama "Itaewon Class" and Kook Yeon-soo's eyes, who has pain in the man in "That Year We Are."

Director Min Yong-geun said in the press conference held right after the premiere, "I hope you watch the movie with a heart full of freshness

and excitement of liking someone."

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Yunhee Cho.)

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