Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a drama,
fantasy film from 2018, titled Be With You. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
Between Heaven and Earth there's a place called Cloudland where people stay until they're
forgotten before going to Heaven. Mommy Penguin peeped down on Earth every day, crying, until one
year later, she secretly hopped on the raindrop train and returned to Earth to visit her son.
They hugged and played together, but when the rainy season was over, she had to catch the last
raindrop or she wouldn't go back to Cloudland. Mother Penguin said goodbye to her son and went
back, but now she wouldn't cry anymore while watching the little penguin's life on Earth.
This is story is being read by Jung Ji-ho from a book his now-deceased mother, Im Soo-ah, made
for him. He's hiding from her funeral but he still overhears some relatives say that it was
the pregnancy that made her weak. Ji-ho looks at his mother's picture and tells her he'll see her
again. A year later, Jung Woo-jin is trying his best at being a single dad, although the house is
a mess and he isn't exactly a great cook. He wakes up early to go to the pool he works at and clean
the entire place before returning home to make breakfast and help his kid get ready for school,
finding him sleeping inside his mom's wardrobe. Every morning Woo-jin also takes his medicine,
and Ji-ho watches the forecast, eagerly waiting for the rainy season to begin.
Woo-jin takes Ji-ho to school on his bicycle, although he can't ride too fast.
Then he goes to work, where his coworker always keeps an eye on him and brings him coffee,
which makes their boss, Swimming Instructor Choi, jealous. After school is over, Ji-ho goes to stay
at the bakery belonging to Hong-goo, Woo-jin's best friend who is like an uncle to him. Today,
Ji-ho arrives in a bad mood because his dad can't run and the school has a special event
coming where students must team up with their dads for a relay race. Hong-goo solves this quickly by
telling him he'll be the one racing instead, which Woo-jin thanks him for when he comes by to pick up
Ji-ho after he's done with work. The day of the race, when Woo-jin is about to leave the pool,
Choi stops him and asks him to change some light bulbs. Meanwhile, at school, Ji-ho is told he
can't race because Hong-goo isn't his father, but when Ji-ho is about to return their t-shirts,
Woo-jin shows up and tells him he'll race with him, thinking he'll be fine if he just jogs. Ji-ho
does well in his half of the race, but when he passes the baton to his dad, he looks sad because
he knows they won't win, so Woo-jin runs seriously instead of jogging. He is actually doing well too,
but only at first: when he's about to reach the finish line, he passes out.
Later, after he starts feeling better and the two of them go home, Ji-ho makes Woo-jin promise that
he'll never leave him. He also wants to hang some blankets outside because according to Hong-goo,
that will make it rain. The next morning, they wake up to discover it is raining, so Ji-ho rushes
out to the train station. Woo-jin follows him there but of course there's nobody to be found,
so he picks up Ji-ho and tries to take him home regardless of his protests. When they're about to
cross the tunnel however, they see a silhouette in the shadows. Woo-jin wants to be cautious,
but Ji-ho isn't afraid and runs toward the person, who indeed turns out to be Soo-ah. Ji-ho is happy
to see her, but Woo-jin is scared, thinking she may be a ghost - in reality, she's indeed here,
but she's suffering from amnesia and doesn't remember them. They take her back home,
where Ji-ho shows her a picture of the family to prove her identity and a welcome drawing he made
for her. This makes Woo-jin nervous so he takes Ji-ho to the bathroom for a second so they can
talk in private. He thinks they shouldn't tell Soo-ah that she had been dead because it could be
too traumatic - it shouldn't be difficult to lie since they haven't thrown away any of her things.
But when they come out, Soo-ah starts making lots of questions: she doesn't understand why she's
being "welcome" if she lives here and how she could've let the house become so dirty and messy.
Woo-jin and Ji-ho come up with a lie on the spot: they tell her she had been in the hospital for a
while, and she was released yesterday. Today they went out for a walk and while playing
hide-and-seek, she got hit by a rock, which caused her to pass out in the tunnel and lose her memory.
The following morning, breakfast goes easier thanks to Soo-ah being there to help. Woo-jin
drops Ji-ho at school, but as soon as he leaves, Ji-ho runs back to his house so he can spend the
day with his mother. Soo-ah is going through her things and finds a key together with her
wedding ring, and hides it all when Ji-ho shows up, telling her his teacher was absent. The two
of them spend the day playing a variety of games, and Ji-ho is surprised to see his mom's strength:
she's much healthier now. At dinner, Ji-ho refuses to eat because he wants his mom's cooking,
not his dad's. Woo-jin thinks she should rest, but Soo-ah decides to try anyway:
sadly, she's very out of practice and she can't get the sauce right. When food she's frying in
very hot oil starts popping off the pan, Woo-jin puts himself between her and the stove so he gets
burned instead. After putting Ji-ho to bed, Soo-ah takes a shower, and Woo-jin uses the chance to
take his medicine without her knowing. Afterward, Soo-ah offers to put some cream on the burn marks
on Woo-jin's back and asks him to tell her the story of their relationship while doing so.
The two of them met in high school, sharing a class. Soo-ah was the top student, but Woo-jin
was more concentrated on the swimming club, so he spent most of his classes sleeping. One day,
during swimming class, he finally got to meet her properly when he saved her from drowning,
and he developed a crush on her that day. Hong-goo could tell his friend liked Soo-ah, so he gave
Woo-jin some tips on how to get the girl. He tried to start a conversation by asking her for a pen,
but she cut him short before he could even finish his sentence. Later, during dancing class,
their teacher noticed Woo-jin was a bad dancer, so he paired him up with Soo-ah,
who was also pretty bad. Woo-jin was so distracted by their closeness that he accidentally stepped on
her foot, and when he bent over to clean it, he ended up headbutting her nose. Soo-ah ended up
bleeding and leaving the gym in a bad mood. They didn't talk again until the last day of school,
when Soo-ah asked Hong-goo to sign her yearbook, and since Woo-jin was there with him, she told him
he can sign as well if he wanted. Woo-jin did sign, and when Soo-ah took her yearbook back,
she accidentally took his pen with her, which Woo-jin shows her in the present. Afterward,
Woo-jin went to a nearby college for swimming, and Soo-ah moved to Seoul to assist university there.
Woo-jin tried to call her during their first summer break, but every time she picked up the
phone, he would get too nervous and hung up. After that, he was called by the army, so for another
two years he couldn't contact her. When he came back, he tried calling her again, and this time,
Hong-goo made it impossible for him to hang up. Instead of asking her properly on a date though,
Woo-jin told her he needed to have his pen back, so they agreed to meet in front of their old
school. When they finally saw each other again, they behaved very awkwardly around each other,
and Soo-ah gave Woo-jin the pen before taking off. Seeing her leave was the final incentive Woo-jin
needed to ask her out, and they ended up going for dinner. Their conversation was very awkward there
too, but eventually they find a topic in common and the evening continued smoothly. Afterward,
they waited for their buses together, but neither of them wanted to leave yet, so they waited in
each other's company until the last one passed by and Soo-ah had no other choice but to leave,
reminding Woo-jin that she wouldn't be back until winter break. After a moment however,
Woo-jin ran after her bus, got inside and asked her if he could write her letters while she was
back in Seoul, which she accepted. Back in the present, it's getting late, so they go to bed
and Woo-jin promises to finish the story another day. The next morning, at school, Ji-ho hears a
classmate say it rains every time his dad washes the car. Meanwhile, Soo-ah decides to explore
the shack she finds in the garden. After opening it with the key she had found when she arrived,
she enters the shack and finds out this is the place where she would make all her crafts.
After work, Woo-jin goes to see Hong-goo, who has called him over saying it was urgent.
When he arrives there, he notices he is trying to set him up on a blind date.
Woo-jin tries to sneak away, but Hong-goo catches him and guesses he's already seeing someone,
even going as far as saying Woo-jin shouldn't make up a bad excuse as saying Soo-ah is back.
This is too accurate and scary, so Woo-jin runs away. Later that night, Hong-goo suddenly shows
up dressed as a penguin to surprise Ji-ho, so Woo-jin tries to kick him out before Soo-ah sees
him. But Hong-goo sneaks inside by using another door, and ends up seeing Soo-ah. Thinking she's
a ghost, he runs away as he promises he'll never set up Woo-jin on blind dates again.
Afterward, Soo-ah asks Woo-jin for the rest of the story behind their relationship.
Woo-jin did write to her, and the next time they saw each other, they went to the movies.
He tried to hold her hand but grabbed a guy's foot by mistake, so later when they were waiting
for the bus, Soo-ah got a little daring and put her hand in Woo-jin's jacket pocket.
Woo-jin quickly followed suit and held her hand inside his pocket. Back in the present,
the couple repeats the same act while Ji-ho talks in his sleep. Sometime later,
Woo-jin takes Soo-ah to the top of a hill, where they have a picnic, listen to the radio and watch
a movie from a nearby drive-in theater by using a pair of binoculars they take their turn with.
She gets so engrossed with the movie that Woo-jin takes the chance to surprise her with his lips on
hers, and the couple finally kisses in the rain. Days pass and Soo-ah gets used to her routine.
She plays with Ji-ho, keeps the house clean, and cooks for her family. She finds the penguin book
as well, but she doesn't think much of it, and when he sees Ji-ho collecting four-leaf clovers
to wish for more rain, she adds some of her own without telling him, but he and Woo-jin do notice.
One day, the family goes out for an afternoon of fun at the river, and Woo-jin carries them both
when they return home. He manages to arrive at the house, but as soon as he steps in, he passes
out. He wakes up moments later on his bed with Soo-ah next to him, demanding an explanation.
Woo-jin decides to tell her by going back to their story. It all started after their third date,
during which Soo-ah gifted him a clover charm to wish him good luck on the national try-outs.
He trained extra hard not to disappoint her, but one day during practice, he passed out in
the middle of the pool. The doctors said there was a problem in his brain that controlled hormones,
so if he got nervous or strained himself, he kept fainting. He had to quit the swimming team
and lost all hope of having a normal life, so he broke up with Soo-ah without telling her about his
illness. A year passed and he still couldn't get over her, so he traveled to Seoul to see her one
last time, but when he arrived at her university, he saw her getting in a car with another man,
so he left without talking to her after dropping the clover charm to the ground.
He didn't try to contact her again after that, but months later, he received a phone call,
and he couldn't take it anymore: he went to the train station and received Soo-ah with a hug,
listening to her say they were meant to be. Shortly afterward, he proposed to her, and she
accepted while ignoring her family's disapproval of her dropping her studies to become a housewife.
After the story is finally over, the couple falls asleep while cuddling. The next day, Ji-ho tells
his parents that he'll be singing with the choir for the school concert and invites Soo-ah to come.
At school, Ji-ho practices the song with his class, where they have to share their dreams
for the future: since he's the fastest runner in his class, his dream is to be a professional that
wins the Olympics. Meanwhile, Soo-ah finds her old diary and learns the truth of what happened
to her, but she doesn't tell the family. Instead, she starts teaching Ji-ho how to do chores,
wash himself and even cook some basics, that way he can help his dad around the house.
Woo-jin has also plans of his own, he and Hong-goo have been covering the train tunnel with wood,
hoping that will prevent her from returning to Cloudland. Rainy season is about to end,
so everyone's mood isn't the best. One day while at work, Woo-jin gets a call from the mother of
one of Ji-ho's classmates. It turns out she caught Ji-ho washing her car, but Ji-ho refuses to say
anything about it. Woo-jin apologizes for his son, getting worried when the mother says he needs
therapy because obviously not having his mother is giving him emotional issues. On their way home,
Ji-ho finally confesses he washed the car because his classmate said this would make it rain and his
mother would stay longer. The next day, Woo-jin is devastated to find the wind has moved all
the wood away from the tunnel. Meanwhile, Soo-ah goes to see Hong-goo to ask him for a favor that
will take a long time. She returns home some hours later with a cake, and the whole family celebrates
Ji-ho's birthday together. Later, while watching the rain with her husband, Soo-ah mentions she
hopes Ji-ho grows to be as handsome as his dad before kissing and hugging Woo-jin while crying.
The day of the concert finally comes, but Woo-jin is once again stuck at work - this time,
Choi gets hurt by a falling lamp, and Woo-jin jumps in the water to save him,
thinking it may've been his fault because he fixed it in a hurry last time. The concert begins and
Ji-ho refuses to sing because his parents aren't there, and when his turn comes to say his dream
like the other kids did, he stays silent. At that moment, Soo-ah finally enters the theatre,
having given up on waiting for Woo-jin. When Ji-ho sees her, he finally begins talking, mentioning
he's a good runner, but also going through all the housekeeping things his mom has taught him,
ending his dream by saying he'll become a good caretaker for his dad. After the concert is over,
the sun comes out, and Soo-ah realizes she must hurry before the last raindrop disappears.
She starts making her way to the station as Ji-ho also sees the sun at school and Woo-jin sees it
when he wakes up in an ambulance, so both of them run towards the station as well. Ji-ho gets there
first and hugs Soo-ah, asking her not to leave him and apologizing for being the reason she died,
since her relatives blamed the pregnancy. Crying, Soo-ah tells him it isn't his fault and
she wouldn't have been happier if she had lived a longer life without him. In the meantime, Woo-jin
is having trouble making his way to the station. First, he loses his bicycle because a truck pushes
him off the street, so instead, he has to run. But soon he starts feeling sick and falls to the
ground, remembering the full conversation they had the evening they watched the rain together.
He had apologized for not making her happy, but Soo-ah said he did, and that she wanted him to
keep on living for the sake of Ji-ho. Finding strength in this memory, Woo-jin stands up and
goes back to running, making it to the station just in time to see Soo-ah disappear in the tunnel
with a clover in her hand. Life becomes easier for them now that Ji-ho is helping around the house,
the lesser stress even allows Woo-jin to ride his bike faster and be a swimming instructor at the
pool. One evening, after taking his medicine, he finds at the bottom of the bag a key and a
note from Soo-ah telling him to go to the shack and read her diary. This is how he discovers her
version of the story, which is quite different from her perspective. Soo-ah had already seen
Woo-jin on the street before they met at school, and she already developed a crush on him right
then. She was too nervous to talk to him though, especially after she embarrassed herself when he
saw her drown. This anxiety was what caused her to be cold to him when he asked for the pen and
what made her flee the dancing class, even if she danced badly on purpose to be paired up with him.
Asking Hong-goo first to sign her yearbook had also been a strategy to get to talk to Woo-jin.
She kept the pen as a memory of him and tried to call him many times while in college, but she
never was brave enough. In the end, Woo-jin called her first, and during their first date, anxiety
got bad again when she thought he only wanted the pen, but thankfully Woo-jin took initiative again.
Then the break-up happened, but she could never forget him. That day at university, she got in
the car of just a friendly classmate, but quickly got out when she noticed Woo-jin waiting for her.
She went after him, picking up the clover charm on the way, but when she crossed the street,
she got hit by a van. She then fell unconscious, and when she woke up, she found herself in the
tunnel, having jumped eight years into the future. She didn't have her memory of their life together,
but she got to fall in love with him all over again, and loved every minute they spent together.
When she went back into the tunnel, she returned to the past and woke up at the hospital after six
weeks spent in a coma. She was really scared about the future she saw, not wanting to die so young,
but she knew if she chose another life she wouldn't be as happy. That was why she called him
to meet again and that day at the station, telling him they were meant to be. Ten years later,
Woo-jin puts the diary in a box to gift Ji-ho on his birthday. Hong-goo is there as well with a
cake and a card Soo-ah left him, which is the favor she had asked for all those years ago:
she left a card for every birthday until the twentieth, which is today. Ji-ho is going out
on a date, but he promises Woo-jin he won't be back late so he can make dinner for his dad.