K-Movie: When the Rainy Season Ends, Miracles Will Appear

Be With You | 지금 만나러 갑니다 (2018) 

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After the beautiful flowers and colour that spring brings in Korea, it is met with jangma (장마), the ‘rainy season.’ This rainy season lasts from the end of spring to the beginning of summer. Now why am I telling you about Korea’s rainy season? 😂 Well, Be With You actually revolves around this rainy season throughout the movie.

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The movie begins with a promise made by Soo-ah (Son Ye-jin) to her son, Ji-ho (Kim Ji-hwan) in the form of a children’s picture book that she illustrated before her passing. She says that during the beginning of the first rainy season, she will return. After one year and the start of the rainy season, Soo-ah’s family are expectedly still struggling with her passing yet trying to keep it together. It seems unbelievable to us that Soo-ah will come back but her husband, Woo-jin (So Ji-sub) doesn't have the heart to tell Ji-hwan the truth. So when the rainy season does start, they venture out to the train station. They don’t see Soo-ah until they start returning home through the train’s tunnel. They’re shocked to see Soo-ah there sleeping but after waking her up and talking to her, they soon realise she has no recollection of her family or in fact, any memories whatsoever.

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Wanting no one to find out, they take Soo-ah back home. They also make up a white lie to prevent Soo-ah from going into shock that she had actually passed away one year ago. To help Soo-ah remember her past memories, Woo-jin tells her about how they met. I love that the movie actually interweaves scenes of how Soo-ah and Woo-jin’s relationship has developed throughout. Over a period of almost ten years, we see them meeting for the first time in high school, finally falling in love during college as well as face obstacles that prevent them from being together. The dynamic between Woo-jin and Soo-ah may seem typical and even cliche at times but the chemistry between them is just too cute 💘 Soo-ah the top student, always in her books, who captures the eye of the seemingly opposite Woo-jin. He’s sporty, troublesome and even more clumsy than he already is around Soo-ah.  

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I thought it was very interesting that Be With You was set during the rainy season. As the rainy season starts at the end of spring, it represents the end of new beginnings. When the rainy season stops, summer enters to bring positivity and optimism. I thought that this theme was really reflected through Woo-jin and Ji-hwan’s outlook of Soo-ah’s passing throughout the movie. It’s very clear that this movie intertwines a fantasy plot. But somehow the themes that carried throughout the movie made it’s storyline more realistic than I would have expected. Because of this, it was a warm and heartfelt movie that left me in tears by the end of it. Give this a watch during our rainy days of autumn where all you want to do is cosy up at home. Be warned though, having a box of tissues nearby is a necessity 🤧