We’re back with a new Korean film review and this time we watched the 2023 film ‘Soulmate’. Ever since the trailer was posted, I simply had to watch this film. Kim Da-mi is a powerhouse and I love her work and the tale of two female childhood friends always gets to me. Let’s take a closer look.
Soulmate
The film ‘Soulmate’ was written by Kang Hyun-Joo, Min Yong-Keun and directed by Min Yong-Keun. The story is based on the Chinese film which was released in 2016 which was based on the novel written by Anni Baobei.
During its two hour runtime we follow the two friends An Mi-So (Kim Da-Mi) and Go Ha-Eun (Jeon So-Nee). Mi-So is the carefree extrovert who plans to travel the world while Ha-Eun is the more reserved one who gets scared more easily.
Mi-So moves from Seoul to Jeju Island with her mother and meets Ha-Eun in class. They become fast friends and Mi-So even stays with her when her mother returns to Seoul without her.
They grow up together, as best friends and practically sisters. When they’re teenagers Ha-Eun starts dating Ham Jin-Woo, played by Byeon Woo-Seok and the first cracks start growing in their friendship.
Eventually Mi-So ends up dropping out of high school and leaves with her guitarist boyfriend to Seoul. After a while the two friends start writing letters and they start showing up in each other’s lives again.
Overall
This movie has a great sense of time and easily jumps between different stages in their lives while Mi-So is reading Ha-Eun’s blog. Humans are complicated, friendships especially childhood friendships sometimes even more so. It’s not always easy to live up to the expectations of others, even if some of the expectations are by your own creation.
‘Soulmate’ is a beautiful, gutwrenching depiction of two women and how their friendship has tied them together. There are hilarious moments and moments of great despair. I really want to highlight the performances of Kim Da-mi and Jeon So-Nee. They were absolutely fantastic.
It’s definitely one of my favorite films I’ve seen so far this year.
Check out the trailer below.
