Hear Me: Our Summer

Feel-good romance lacks distinctive voice and a real heart

I don't have much to say about this film except that it's cute, adorable and wholesome. Conversations are mostly backed up with whimsical music. I don't have a problem with this as the dialogues felt authentic and genuine at first. However, by the time we arrived in the second half the story became dragged and lacked the specifities I was hoping for.

The shots and cinematography could have been more creative to make it memorable. The story does not try to be groundbreaking either. This is just supposed to be a feel-good movie although I would have loved if there were more touching moments to evoke emotions considering the story revolves around deaf people.

The story starts with Yong Jun unsure of what he wants to do in life. He's surrounded with philosophy books but he doesn't know what job to apply for. By the time we get to the end, nothing has changed. He's the main character but we didn't get to know much about his thoughts and background except that he instantly fell for Yeo Reum when he saw her in the swimming pool. This is the moment where the puppy love story starts to unfold. The film also noticeably shifts it focus to Yeo Reum's point of view after this part. More or less, Yeo Reum is a more developed character than Yong Jun. We digged into Yeo Reum's background and personality but only to a certain extent and here is where my main issue lies. Her character lacks a distinctive voice and is not fleshed out as I want her to be.

The storyline is fairly simple and is quite the epitome of young love. Although, one would really expect that the film could have had more earnest and compelling scenes just to fully give us that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

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So Much Potential Wasted

Hear Me: Our Summer is a fairly wholesome movie that portrays sign language beautifully. The actors did an excellent job expressing their emotions. However, the plot was rather basic and lacked that certain something that could have elevated the entire experience.

The romance, in particular, was poorly executed and, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons I didn’t enjoy the film. The male lead not only made me uncomfortable but also ruined the romantic aspect with his behaviour in the context of love. I don’t mind that he fell in love at first sight—that wasn’t the issue. The real problem lies in how he went about getting to know the female lead. Completely infatuated, he came across as almost a stalker, a simp, and it was unbearable to watch. His behaviour didn’t reflect that of a 26-year-old man but rather an inexperienced teenager who had just discovered love and had no idea how to approach women—and definitely not in a way that could be considered charming. It was very difficult to connect with the male lead, to the point where I started skipping his scenes and only focused on the parts involving the female lead and her sister.

The scenes with the female lead and her sister, on the other hand, were very well done. Of course, there’s always room for improvement, but their interactions were what kept me motivated to continue watching the movie.

That said, the acting overall was good, and the emotions conveyed through sign language were well executed. However, for a film that’s 1h49 long, I ended up skipping over an hour of it due to the lack of depth in the script. This was a movie I had been looking forward to for a long time and was very excited about, but it ultimately left me disappointed. There was so much potential, but it feels like it wasn’t properly realized, which is quite unfortunate.

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