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Kim Da-mi (left) and Jeon So-nee in a still from Soul Mate (category IIA; Korean), directed by Min Young-keun - a remake of Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang’s award-winning 2016 movie Soul Mate. Photo: Handout

Review | Soulmate movie review: Korean remake of 2016 Chinese hit, starring Kim Da-mi and Jeon So-nee, is a faithful adaptation set on Jeju Island

  • Mi-so is quirky and outgoing, Ha-eun pretty and introverted. They become fast friends – until a handsome boy causes a rift between them
  • Told in flashback, this remake of Derek Tsang’s 2016 hit Soul Mate is faithful to the original story but more restrained, making the ending harder to swallow

3/5 stars

In 2016, Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung scored a critical and commercial hit with Soul Mate, the story of two childhood friends whose devotion to one another has repercussions through their adult life.
The film garnered numerous international accolades, including a rare joint best actress prize at the Golden Horse Awards for stars Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun.
Now South Korean director Min Young-keun looks to recapture that success with his remake, which transplants the story to the remote, picturesque setting of Jeju Island, with rising stars Kim Da-mi (Itaewon Class) and Jeon So-nee assuming the lead roles.

After being bounced around from city to city, quirky, outgoing Mi-so (Kim) and her mother finally settle in Jeju, where she meets the pretty, yet introverted Ha-eun (Jeon).

The mismatched pair become fast friends, and Mi-so is embraced by Ha-eun’s family when her mother inevitably goes off the rails again.

Byeon Woo-seok (left) as Jin-woo and Kim Da-mi as Mi-so in a still from “Soul Mate”.

The inseparable pair’s friendship is put to the test by the handsome Jin-woo (Byeon Woo-seok), with whom Ha-eun is infatuated but who secretly has eyes for Mi-so. His presence causes a rift between the girls that they will spend years attempting to reconcile.

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

She is approached by an art gallery that has secured a huge, striking pencil sketch of Mi-so as a teenager, and is hoping she can help them contact the artist, Ha-eun. This leads her to her friend’s old blog, which recounts their tumultuous friendship and forces Mi-so to relive her wayward youth.

Jeon So-nee in a still from Soul Mate.

Min’s adaptation is a softer, more restrained retelling of Tsang’s abrasive story – he was not averse to showing life’s hardships in all their grim detail.

Min leans into rose-tinted nostalgia for the late 1990s and early 2000s, celebrating the pair’s childhood innocence over their tough, real-world experiences.

Thankfully, neither version muddies the waters of their friendship with any clumsy suggestion of homosexual attraction, but rather celebrates that they are one and the same, kindred spirits – soul mates.

Min’s mostly faithful adaptation succeeds in making the story more accessible to a younger audience, who may recognise themselves and their challenges on screen.

Kim Da-mi in a still from Soul Mate.

In a few specific instances, however, not least a running joke between the girls about their breasts, the film is rendered almost incomprehensible by Min’s timid approach.

His restraint also makes the film’s admittedly rather ludicrous denouement somewhat harder to swallow, given that he has not subjected the characters to the same life lessons as Tsang’s film beforehand.

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