Maaz Zakir

 Title Name Institution Date My thoughts on Be With You Review: Be with you was certainly a roller coaster ride that did cater to my every emotion. I mean many humorous elements were sprinkled throughout the movie consistently. The sad part did have me sobbing, and feel good parts did manage to lighten up my mood thoroughly. It was a story of a broken guy who coped with his sadness after a set of an exceptionally distinctive turn of events. It was about a motherless child that grew up in truly admirable ways. The ending was heartbreaking, yet satisfying in an exclusive manner, moreover, the conclusion was not your normal 'and they lived happily ever after stuff, but it did manage to give me a sense of liberation, while the climax pulled on my heart string such that I felt grief for such a tragic fate of the protagonists. This was outstandingly proper as I would have never expected it, I thought the animated sequence at the start was just for throwing me off and everything was going to end on an upbeat note, as you know I was very wrong in that assumption. The life of Soo was abundant in originality when it comes to falling in love as in broad sense. First, she had a crush, then she spent the rest of the life with Woo-jin also marring him, and then she fell in love. Impressions of characters Let’s start with Woo-jin, and what I perceived him as. At the start of the film due to an excellent combination of writing and direction, as all I saw was a heartbroken man who could not fend his emotional attachment to his wife after her death. He did not want to move on, moreover never even trying to bring any other women into his life, this is what film depicted as true love as it happens only once. He had lost all his ambition, visually represented as him losing the ability to run freely, a beautiful representation of him be tied down as compared to his past. He could not run, he was just walking the road of survival and living for his son. He had lost all interest in moving forward in life and being successful. All he wanted now was his wife back, not money, health nor fame. His desires well vastly overshadowed by the heart that only called for his wife, all he ever wanted was what is good for her, as she was the one to make him this way. When she came into his life he felt that it is now complete, one can only imagine what he experiences after her loss. But at the conclusion, he was still a man that needed love, as his wife says to stay with their child until they unite in the afterlife. This gave a powerful message as Woo-jin never succeeded to get over or replace her but he simply wanted to spend his whole life in the support of his son until he could grow and be independent. This had a special effect on me because I have felt that way in my life too. My mother is the one who I wanted to serve throughout my life; I do not want to fulfill my dreams unless I have given my all for her comfort. All I really cared about was to try to repay my mom for all that she had done for me, like the way she fought the world for me, and now I just want to give her a life that she can truly live for herself: It's my turn now to provide, my turn to face the bad weather while she does whatever she wants, I want to take a pause on my dreams until she can achieve hers or else I would not be able to forgive myself. I cannot live with myself knowing that she spent her whole life for me, without even getting a break for it. As for Soo, she is dear mother and wife, she had given so much love to her family that they could not fathom to replace or forget her. This might be obvious for her child, I mean there is only one mother, but her husband also could not find someone who could fill the void left by her. But as for when she was young, not to be harsh but I thought she was ‘that girl’, who tries hard to get until the guy impresses her by being the knight in shining armor or something like that. But I was thoroughly pleased and shocked to see the layers in her character, by that I men she essentially gives her life to her family. She knows when going back to the past that she will die if she walked the path of being with Woo-jin but despite that, she prioritized the life of her unborn son and happiness of Woo-jin. She held the power to elongate her life by not bearing a child and all she had to do was not go to Woo-jin as he had already tried to cut her off, the reason being him not being able to see a good future for him. This colored me with a lasting impression, by giving a lovely message of living life in pursuit of true happiness, rather than for the sake of survival. Soo taught me to value those who would give there all for you and they deserve your best efforts too. As Woo-jin wanted to protect Soo by distancing himself no matter how hard that was, she replayed him by giving her life to him. For the child ( Jin-hoo), I thought he was unlucky as he had lost his mother at a tender age. I saw him and pitied him for the fate he had, as a delusional kid who wanted nothing but to want his mother back. A sensitive child who had craved for the attention of his father, and who in return was always too busy with work. But this whole perception of mine change as the plot progressed as I think Jin-hoo was the one who developed the most out of all characters. After he is bidding farewell to his mother he says that he had always thought that he is the reason for her death, and for me to hear that, it felt like my heart was pierced by a thousand needles. It is cruel for a child to blame himself for the death for his loving mother in my eyes; it was tragic to see him wanting to not be born so that her mother could have lived. As I have said above, I do sympathize with this feeling but I cannot entertain it, I mean the sadness he had felt due to this is immeasurable. And once this doubt is cleared by his mother he strives to be strong to support his father. I cannot picture the strength that a toddler would need to have his father’s back when he is motherless. At the Jin-hoo manages to form the basis of being independent, and on top of that becomes a remedy for his broken father who could not be fixed. In a heartbreaking scene when the children are announcing what they want to become. Hong-goo was what this story needed, in more ways than one, he was the most likable character. Hong-goo is a prime example of a superb support character, thereby he is always available for Jin-hoo as well as Woo-jin. I think he embodies the loyalty, he cared for his friend and his friend’s family while not expecting anything in return. He also provides a comical relief for an otherwise sad story in other people’s eyes. I would go as far as to say we all need a Hong-go in our lives and also in the movies. Comparison with the American cinema: This was my second experience with the Korean cinema and the most primary thing I notice is the contrast in the culture that brings many differences in the portrayals and not in a negative sense at all. I mean a bit of conservativeness was shown in the portrayal of any aspects of the film like love, appeal, and comedy. There is a bit of shyness when it comes to love, as neither the or not the girl is open about their feelings for each other. But as we know the mutual affection they share for each other is especially strong as, Woo-jin never manages to fill the void left behind by Soo-aa, despite the futile attempts by Hong-go to set him up for a date. Maybe he could not love another after his first and only girlfriend, and wife. It is laughable for American characters to reluctantly give a lucky charm on the third date, even though being actual adults. In common American fashion, there is physical attraction followed by explicit sex scenes and finally true love in the distant future. On the contrary, in this case, the love comes first, and the director does not take the time to explore the physical aspect of the relationship, such that the closest that comes to this is an intimate kissing scene that I perceived as not explicit but beautiful in its essence. A flashback playing in the place of the sky, as the scene lights up giving attention to the splendor of nature, while the shot pans out signifying that they are isolated. Yet, they are having the time of their lives, as it is said about true love, other affections are just no significant in comparison. The scene is like Woo-jin kisses Soo-aa when he is in the awe of her beauty and the unending affection he has for her, amplified further by the time he spent apart thinking he can never see her ever again. Rather, than a kiss scene just for the sake of a kiss scene, as these scenes are typically for exciting the pleasure-seeking part of the audience, and are adherently aggressive in nature, therefore not being easy on the eyes while also being aesthetically pleasing. The appearance of the leading couple is portrayed to be of attractive persons. But, the guy does not have a razor-sharp jawline, huge muscles or an extremely ripped body. Like one might have expected to see in a typical good looking guy depicted by Hollywood, nor is he shown as an extroverted popular person, as it is seen as an appealing trait as well. Likewise, this is true for the girl as well, thus there is a good focus in developing her as pretty and graceful rather than hot and bold. This is evident in the clothing she wears throughout the film, thereby her clothes are restrictive in being revealing or expressing her sexuality. While she is established as a cute loveable girl who is clumsy at hiding her true feelings and pretends to not care, such that she let out her true emotions only in front of dairy while writing about her day, as shown at the end. So, I saw a drastic difference when it comes to what traits people see as desirable, as when considering the outward appearance the face is the center of attention rather than the body. I do not know why? But I was really surprised to see the depiction of schools, both in the scenes of the elementary school of Jin-ho or the flashback we saw of the high school life of the main couple. The thing that was odd to me was the total absence of high school tropes, by that I mean the simplicity. There was no douchebag, who is often a bully and part of so-called cool kids or a chill stoner kid. None of the students were put in boxes, except maybe that kid who tells jin-ho that it rains when his dad washes his car, further specifying the car is American that other kids found cool. He was somewhat of a popular kid at first but his mother was not especially rude when confronting jin-ho about putting the soap on their car daily, or rather her mother was sentimental to a motherless child. Coming back, I thought at first Woo-jin was that cool silent loner kid who is perfect and admired as his swimming skills were profound, but that did not hold up as he almost always had a friend to back him up, and even if he was considered handsome there was nothing cool when it came to asking Soo out. And, as for Soo I thought she was nerdy type who focused on books and was not considered popular due to her focus on study, and I was wrong again as maybe because she did not have glasses, stuttered while talking or was not confident in talking with other students, as in other words had social anxiety. Maybe these are not tropes used in Hollywood and are unique to Korean cinema or perhaps these are original characters that do not follow any boxes they might be considered of belonging to. ‘Show not tell’ is a concise but fundamental rule for a good film, and this was the motto behind the production of be with you in my eyes. There were no characters that I noticed whose purpose was to explain the sequence of events as they unfolded. Nothing was explicitly said but shown through a supreme use of flashback that worked consistently with the presence of the timeline. It was successful in establishing a sense of mystery when talking about the past of characters and as well as the supernatural events that were happening. Even at the ending, I was pleased that a character or a narrator did not explain what just happened as I am sure it was a popular Hollywood movie this would have happened. The reason for this is that I think that fundamentally separates Korean movies with the Hollywood ones is that Korean is made for a much smaller audience and give their best to make a work of art. While what I hate about some recent American movies is that they are made for the lowest common denominator, as it tries to cover the most part of the audience, to make the movie more and more profitable, and this would only happen if the scope of audience is maximized. They want everyone to understand everything on the first watch, and this hurts the art as it should make you feel and think, such that a person who does not give his full attention to the details would be left out. I think a work of art should be respected enough to try notice the subtle details that are put by the production, as they are most important when making something stand out, therefor showing the thought that goes behind making an exceptional film, and those things are not obvious, one's portrayal is shown not stated. There should be at least one thing that an individual in the audience relates to and that should be unique, I should not be the exact same thing for everyone, in other words, there should be enough room for interpretation so people feel and relate. The last thing that I noticed and was extremely pleased by was the dialog or overall calm and quiet vibes through the film. I mean everyone was so polite in talking to each other, the comedy was not made at the expense of making fun of someone else or otherwise insulting. The comedy sure was over the top as when Hong pulled out a superstitious charm to fend of the ghost as Soo showed up to as for a favor, that scene had me laughing. In conclusion, this is the variety and diversity that the world needs when it comes to the film industry. Korean movies have many things that set them apart, and Hollywood can learn from them. Even though they are made with relatively miniscule budgets when compared to Hollywood action flicks.