Reviews

Interesting themes

This could have been a great movie. the premise is great - a second chance to interact with your deceased loved ones in an AI generated world. However, because it's in an anthology format, just as each character is developing, it's disrupted to move on to another story as it chops and changes between stories.

In comparison, Yonder had the same premise but executed it much better as they focused on deeply exploring the experience for one family, and surrounding context. Even with Yonder, I felt more could have been done but perhaps that showed a lot of understanding (or more accurately, dreaming) of the underlying tech and how it affects society.

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behind every action are story. try to analyze before conclusion

A great movie, it was a bit hard to watch.
The movie reflects the full reality of today's world... there are very few adequate people with common sense. Those who have not yet forgotten how to think and just help.
There is always a story and a motive behind every crime. It is very difficult to restrain yourself from mistakenly accusing the wrong person. Not every criminal is a criminal just as not every victim is a victim in the full sense of the word. No matter how morality or the law sometimes try to deny it. There is always a beginning of something that entails certain consequences. Unfortunately, there are more stupid people, and this movie completely conveyed what is happening in today's world, what was a couple of years ago.
Many people want justice for themselves but do not want to be fair to others who are the "true victim". Only by putting themselves in their shoes do they begin to understand what it is like to feel the same thing that another person once experienced who asked you for help and you didn’t even take him seriously. I want to hope that the meaning of this film will reach those who often ignored the rights of other people.

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As a Remake, it was mid at best

As someone who have watched the original trilogy when I was a kid, there was a lot of expectation and mystery-loss for me. This remake though hardly offer more substantial plot or fundamentally tangible compared to the original.

For someone who haven't watched the original might find this movie effective for them as it covered mostly all the basics of the original and delivered a satisfying ending. But in the end, it did not exceed or even reach the standard of the 1997 film.

For one, it was very dragging. 20 minutes in and there's hardly anything tangible happening. For a setting of mostly similar walls of cubes, they took their time showcasing dead air and blank space. They could fit a lot of things in it and it should be a dead give away that themovie offers less than the original one, which it proved. There's less rooms, they copied most of the concept and even make it less complex than the original one.

The casting at first look made me question if they were casted well or they just get in through a connection. But apparently it was a writing issue. They were only given little and they made most of it which in the end made sense, but still lacking when you currently watch it.

The writing was lacking. It was self serving at most and I think there's more potential if they picked better characters, and made them well. The characters actions feels off sometimes and the lines were a little bit lacking.

Cinematography wise, it was good in the eye. The effects were decent, though they're pretty basic too. There were some weird shots and camera sequences, sometimes the change of color hurts the eye---I'm still waiting for its relevance though---but mostly with the limited space, they were able to give good cinematography

The sound directory was nothing phenomenal and sometimes they give way more spoilers to the story. There were also times where it overpowered the scene but it only happened a couple of times.

Plotwise, it was mid and bearable. It satisfied me but mostly because I was watching it in 2x speed.

It could have been better but at least it was not terrible.

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Not everything is about ourselves

Dramas which have the looping theme always caught my attention. When I started watching this movie and realized it was a festive one, I regretted it so badly for missing the perfect opportunity of watching it on new year's eve haha but still, I kept going. I didn't expect that much from the movie when I read the synopsis, but then everything changed.

Toy, our ML, is so so so annoying at first, but that idea literally gets to our mind only on the first 3 minutes, I'd say. When he realizes that he's really stuck on this looping thing and that a new year is never coming for him (and everyone else obviously), he just wants to get out of it so badly (it's funny that he tries everything that we can't even think about) and, one day trying to escape from this scenario, he happens to meet our FL, Vee, who's also stuck on this day.

(I may need to add something before talking specifically about Vee. June's acting was amazing here and she didn't look like herself, I mean, I watched OMG (Oh My Girl!) last year and she's completely different. I really did loved it)

Vee is a strong FL and since the first scene, we can see that she's a strong-minded person, she knows everything she must do accordingly to the plans and patterns she notices throughout the story, but she also has a sensitive side and part of her wants to be loved and not alone on this world.

Both leads have their own reasons and things they wanna fix on this day so they can pass through it (that's what lead them into the perfect things they notice), but the most important thing is related to their family members. I loved the contrast between their personalities - they're literally opposites, but also have similar feelings when it's about family matters -, Toy is so outgoing , talkative, shameless and do whatever he thinks it's right to him while Vee thinks about how her actions will affect other people around her.

As I was watching, I felt the same emotions they had and I really got happy that they both got mature till the end of the movie. As they got mature and could deal with the problems which revolved around them and kept them from going to another day, it's noticeable what the movie's message the director wanted to show us: yup, we need to be selfish sometimes, but we also need to be responsible and understand that our actions will lead to some consequences. We must have the balance that both leads had on their journey and I think that's amazing.

I highly recommend it if you want a romantic comedy that surely will bring you joy and reflect about some personal matters, but you'll also laugh and cry. It's a perfect movie for every emotion. I hope that in the end though, you can remember: not everything is about ourselves in this world.

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Missed Potential: Sisterhood Shines, but the Romance Misses the Mark

This film attempts to be a feel-good story, but its execution falters with a poorly crafted romance that’s hard to buy into. The male lead's story leans heavily on a problematic trope: he sees a girl, falls in love, & exhibits stalker-like tendencies, forcing his way into her life albeit with good intentions. For instance, after meeting her and getting her number, he bombards her with messages the very same day, impatiently demanding a response—an unsettling and off-putting trait that makes his character difficult to root for. Such glorified "stalker-ish" behavior feels outdated and uncomfortable, leaving the romance mismatched and unconvincing. The lack of depth in the male lead’s character arc—why he lacks motivation, for instance—only adds to the disconnection.

On the other hand, the dynamic between the sisters is the true heart of the film. Their bond is heartwarming and engaging, showcasing their emotional range and potential for a much stronger narrative. Unfortunately, many of their scenes are cut short to make room for the romance, which feels unnecessary and detracts from the story's overall impact. A sismance-focused plot would have elevated this film to something truly special.

From an acting perspective, the performances were excellent. The main actors, including the male lead, did a commendable job with the material they were given. However, the script failed to explore the male lead’s arc in any meaningful way, which was a missed opportunity.

Rewatch value is low for me. There are far better stories that address themes of disability and emotional growth with greater authenticity and depth. While the sisterly bond adds charm and engagement, the overall experience left me underwhelmed.

Overall: 6/10

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Inspirational, well rendered stories to lift the spirit

This is a simply beautiful and moving series of stories all eloquently told.

Of struggle, humility, love, sacrifice and of course JOY!

I teared up many times and would recommend to others for instant reconnection to what it means to be human, across all our differences and the various ways we come to be instilled with national pride and hope for humanity

Stories we hardly get to see in the west and all from the point of view of the little woman, man and child of China. Long live 🤛

It’s subbed and on YT https://youtu.be/h5B9smsliBw?si=VL36nsoHe1WwzqbB

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And that is what they did...

In San's and Xiaowen's minds they are father and daughter and looking at them from the moment they met, no one could say otherwise.

San, a mortician, meets Xiaowen upon her grandmother's death. Xiaowen, not fully understanding what death was, kept looking for her. San was given the task of keeping her as her closest relatives refused her. San, an ex-con, and Xiaowen, still lost, fought every moment they were together. Ultimately, over a period of happenings, misfortunes, and death both smoothed out each other's rough edges and a fierce bond was forged. Each fighting for the other and selflessly becoming each other's protector. The heartbreak would come but so too the immediate forgiveness. He would not fail her again. After all he was BaBa.

Zhu Yilong deserved this win. He gave his all with this performance and it showed. His vulnerability was laid open and with Yang Enyou brought every emotion out. It's fast paced, angry and rough. Yet, still the genuine love between the two was evident in every act. Every gut wrenching emotion was felt.

Go watch!

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Cultural identity, Scars of colonial trauma, and Globalization

It's always refreshing to see horror films that aren't based around the Christian frame work because everyone is influenced by the same Hollywood movies and western colonization. It's an even more impressive feat considering the director himself is Christian also. I really enjoy that the film is rooted in cultural knowledge that specifically the Korean audiences would be familiar with and doesn't do any exposition to handhold international audiences, because it doesn't have to. I see so many reviews that are so entitled to being catered to. There's a lot of cross cultural motifs in the film perhaps alluding to the past unease of forced mixing of cultures during the wartime versus the modern world where there are cultural exchanges through globalization with various soft powers. The cursed rich family hiring the shaman are Korean American, their ancestor unfortunately worked with the colonial Japanese military, and the geomancer's daughter marrying a German husband, even the Christian character Young Geun who assists in the geomancy and the shamanic rituals and does Christian prayers for his cohort who had been attacked by a Japanese curse demon.

The film opens with the shaman Hwa Rim being spoke to in Japanese by an Asian flight attendant on a flight of different ethnicities sitting around them. While Hwa Rim responds to the attendant's question in perfect Japanese, she also clarifies that she's Korean. Her cultural identity is important to her. She and her shaman assistant Bong Gil travel to St. Joseph's hospital to assess baby Joseph who is the latest first born son or remaining son afflicted of the family curse. St. Joseph is the earth father of Jesus, so Joseph carries the theme of the patrilineage. Hwa Rim clocks that the troubles stem from the grandfather who the characters later discovered the big family secret is that he was a high ranking officer who worked for the Colonial Japanese during that era, which is how recent it still is in the historical timeframe. Aside from weapons and atrocities, there was Japanization to force Koreans to remove their culture. The iron stakes refers to an urban legend that the Colonial Japanese installed them in specific places to break the spirit of the Korean people. No matter how loyal the grandfather was to the occupiers, they used him even in death for their scheme to protect the giant demon version of the iron stake made from a big sword and different pieces of bodies. His nameless, abandoned grave, turning him into an aggressive spirt that murders his own bloodline. The sparing visions of the ghost was more effective than dancing his tango loving daughter in law to death which was pretty silly. The ghost learned human technology really fast, using the phone to fool his grandson into ignoring the actual Sang Deok at the door. That's kind of silly, but points for flipping the script on the door banging being from the actual Sang Deok. They make sure to show that they had no choice, but to cremate the body on a rainy day to save baby Joseph, and so the guy who worked for the Japanese Colonial power will not have a good afterlife.

The cgi foxes could have been done better, but the human headed snake that screams was an effective creepy design, as was the reveal there is a vertical grave underneath the grandfather, and the giant demon shogun that feasts on humans that emerges from it. It was clever to have Geomancer Sang Deok's explanation about how his field revolves around the elements of wood, metal, fire, air, and water come back around by using wood and his own blood in place of water to defeat the monster comprised of metal and fire. Hwa Rim's fluent Japanese implied to be possibly related to her shamanism field requiring at least some knowledge of the shamanism from there with Japanese ghosts behaving differently on the danger scale, comes in clutch to understand what the shogun says and wants. Bong Gil manages to survive his encounter with the shogun by being covered mostly in tattoos of the Buddhist script, leaving the demon only being able to stab the liver area which was an unfortunate blank spot. Hwa Rim realizing this leads to a funny scene where she, Sang Deok, and Young Geun are covered in temporary tattoos of the Buddhist script while having to speak to the traffic controller at a stop to go back into the mountain area. The rag tag team defeat the evil, but they are still are still affected by their experiences, similar to how South Korean is still affected by what had happened to the country during the colonial rule. The team is bonded though surviving the trauma and Sang Deok incorporates them into his new blended family along with his German son in law in the the big family photo.

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If possible, do not watch on Freevee app

Very good movie but I watched on Freevee and the subtitlor never provided subs for anything written which is unfortunate because the movie revolves around what's being said online.

I didn't expect them to translate every single comment as they quickly scrolled by in some scenes, (but they should've done at least two out of those each time so we could get the impression of how people were responding on the characters online posts) and especially when the camera took the time to zoom in on certain comments or posts, then you can assume those comments were important enough that they should have been translated.

Thankfully, it's possible to follow the story anyway but if I knew the name of the company providing the subtitles, I would be writing an email to that company and to Freevee complaining that they should not use that particular translator any more.

I gave the movie 9 stars but it could've possibly been a 10 if I had been able to follow exactly what was being said online amongst the characters.

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This is not a romcom!

Fortunately, the film is not very popular and I am so happy about it though the rating is still way too high. Call me a cynic but there is nothing funny or romantic about this film.
The concept is amazing: she is always one step ahead and he is always one step behind everyone else and so even though they met as children and he had been carrying a torch for her ever since, they could never meet. But he sees her and he watches her and when I realized what he was doing this "comedy" turned into a horror story without gore and worse for it!

So he keeps following her, taking pictures of her, protecting her from afar by beating up the conman she started seeing: he is stalkinh her. But then it gets worse. The sci fi twist makes the time stand still for a day which he uses to kidnap her, take her to the beach, manhandle her and take numerous photos of her unaware (frozen in time!). Why would anyone find this romantinc is beyond my comprehension.

Others are raving about this film, "love yourself yada, yada, yada..." but this is just a psychological drama, thriller if you like where the woman is under the man's influence and controlled by him.

A horror story in my book! You are free not to agree!

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what can I say..

Damn…
I like ,,sad,, movies/series a lot, I dont cry normally only If something really bad happens or I watch a sad movie soo you know what? I watched this around 4 times and I really bawled my eyes out do I need to say why😭? After I found out that it was a real story that happened and wasn’t written I lost my grip.
I have a big connection with this movie I dont know why but I just feel like it it’s really good movie really really the fact that is taiwanese is more stunning because if you’re into bls and you watched some of taiwanese bls yk that they’re not really good (not all vuz there are some good but yk..)

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Good idea, enjoyable, but missed the mark

The concept of time loop has been done by so many series before, and this movie is the second iteration of another American title. But alas, it tries to do more and fell short of being a good rom-com with poor explanation and story pacing. The story starts out with our main character, Toy, who is doing wild things because he is in an infinite loop on last day of the year. Everyone around him is not aware of this to his frustration. That is one day when he meet our female lead, Vee, who is also aware of the loop also. And that seems like a plot to a good/innovative story. However, this is where many things seem to fell short.

First, Toy is very uneven. One day he is erratic. One day he is nice. One day he is very aware of little things. Another is totally clueless about his surrounding. It just seems to flip around conveniently without decent reasons or pace. Side stories with his family has some family-culture-touching moments, but feel like additions that lack cohesion to the main line. It just seems out of place and fixed by a simple, "because I am there and you succeed and become happy". It feels contrived.

For our female lead, Vee, her story is meant to be the key of the loop. They try to give little mysteries and hints, but it accidentally show the entire hand. Instead of focusing on her daily routine, giving simple monologue, and/or exploring her perspective, the first hint is already obvious to anyone who ever watch enough Jdrama. The movie could have split the focus into two different perspectives without giving away anythings until much later. Faulting this one on directors and screenwriters.

The science. Oh no. This one falls flat to the ground...badly It tries hard to blend "science" with fantasy using pseudo-random physics ideas, and not explain how it can happen. It never fully explain why Toy is in this time loop. It did not fully explain how/why they believe the way out is really the solution to the loop. It would have been much cleaner to just go with a random fantasy-mystic-god-alien-phenomenon as the reason. The viewers already know that this is a fantasy world.

I am a sucker for time-loop and time-travel story. However, this one ranks on a lower-middle side. They could skip the science. Improve the story pacing, instead of making Toy into a different person on a whim. Don't make him one day ungrateful, then nice overnight. The family members and the friend side-stories need to be flushed out. They feel pointless in this movie. The female lead needs to be expanded upon. Sadly, the fact that this is a remake made it more regrettable for the missed improvements.

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