After the death of his wife Soo-ah, former swimming champion Woo-jin lives alone with their young son Ji-ho, still grieving but managing to get through day by day. A year later, Soo-ah miraculously returns, though she doesn’t remember the family that she left behind.
The take
When a woman that looks like the love of your life randomly shows up at an empty train station, but strangely has no memory of you, maybe you should try to confirm their identity first– doppelgangers do exist, after all. But aside from this detail, there’s a certain charm in the way Be With You unfolds, as the family gets a second chance to cherish a loved one, and as Woo-jin indulges in sharing their love story, a story that Woo-jin understandably doesn’t want to forget. Be With You doesn’t reinvent the entire genre, and it would inevitably be compared to the 2004 Japanese original, but this Korean remake does it so well, celebrating the way love transcends lifetimes.
What stands out
Child actor Kim Ji-hwan is just so precocious, it makes me want to cry the way Jung Ji-ho instantly accepts his mom’s story.