Ditto (2000)

Although the story-line wasn't very creative I thought I should give it a try. I really like Yoo Ji Tae movies, and for once I needed to see him as a "good guy" :) He likes to play "dark characters to much for mine taste.

Let's start with good thing about this movie- music. It's really heart touching. And that will be it. Of course movie had some good moments but not enough. Connection between main leads was decent.

As for bad things, acting, story etc - Yoon So character was annoying beyond I could imagine. I never once felt that she's in love. And as for Ji-In character it was not so bad, but still not enough. I felt like I'm watching amateurish movie with actors that are trying to express their characters a little to much and they just missed opportunity to do well.

Overall I got feeling that this movie wasn't well thought through.

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Cute little melodrama that doesn't end right...

The setting, music, photography were all good for this time period and I enjoyed the feeling of actually being on a campus during the movie.

However, the movie expects you to believe that this intelligent young lady, Yoon So Eun (Kim Ha Neul) is not going to fight for her love , Ji Dong Hee (Park Yong Woo), who she had written countless letters to during his mandatory military service.

It also wants you to believe that the young college student is going to go the rest of her life without a boyfriend, husband and/or lover! Had the ending not been so terrible, I would have given it a higher rating than what I did.

The characters of Yoon So Eun and Ji Dong Hee were believable, but didn't quite measure up to two individuals who knew they liked each other; that is the second reason it didn't really warrant a higher rating from me. The support character Seo Hyeon Ji (Ha Ji Won) was sidelined with a broken foot for the entire first two weeks of the movie; then steals her best friend's boyfriend...don't buy it!

The only bad performance was Heo Seon Mi ( Lee Seung Min) but since she only had two acting performances during the year 2000 (her first two acting stints then), I am not going to criticize her, except she was kind of an anti-girlfriend to the main male lead in the 2000 segment.

Also, another reviewer mentioned that he or she could not stand the way Kim Ha Neul played the young female lead during this movie: she acted as any young-girl-in-love does, going goo-goo-eyed every time her crush came into view, then acted like she was about to faint, hesitated before talking, blushing, grinning ear to ear and occasionally saying something stupid (like she was in the ham radio club when she was spotted by her crush there; she wasn't).

Also her total about-face would never have been done by someone that in love with a guy, without a fight, best friend or not as her rival!

Nor would someone that intelligent live for so many years by herself, without finding another love; she was too intelligent to do that!

WATCH VALUE: definitely: RE-WATCH VALUE: NONE, unless you want to study how not to end a movie!

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The ending just doesn't do it for me

I watched this because I saw an edit on tiktok. There is a remake that will come out so I watched it. The story was interesting, I felt really bad for So-eun. I can't imagine how betrayed she would with no interference from Ji In. But I don't understand how she could forgive her best friend (indicated by old pics) so maybe his interference was needed for her to maintain that relationship. Maybe his interference is what allowed her to accept it.
Also I was hoping for a romance between Ji In and So-eun or atleast for her not be single all this time. But I like that they all accept reality and move on. Maybe a romance trope between them would ruin it as realistically if such a situation were to happen, a romance would be unlikely. I do wish they had a talk or something for closure in 2000 but she seems to want to put it behind her.
Following on with the fact that she stays single. I just don't get how that would happen with how cute she is, she seems to get over Dong-hee so the fact she doesn't get with someone doesn't make sense. I feel like there should be a bit more to the ending, maybe a montague of her life or maybe how she gets on with her friends. The friend obviously knew she liked Dong-hee so much so I wanted to know when did their romance actually start; does he cheat or do they break up naturally. I'm really curious.
Also, I can't accept the fact that Ji in didn't try harder to see her and talk to her but I guess he understood she didn't want to see him as she transferred before he joined university and the fact she walked passed him.
All in all the ending just doesn't hit right for me.

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Just a story of a college girl

Watch this movie because of the news of the remake movie "Similar". I think this movie is not that bad as some said. Yes the ending is not good or not normal like other lovey dovey living in dreamland kind of love story. And the story is a bit flat, no really excitement / mystery / action / love, it just a flat daily life story of a college girl (except of the strange connection to the future time). But don't most of of us also most of the days living this monotonous flat daily life?
This is the time when Kim Ha Neul and Ha Ji Won still very young and quite new in the industry.

Acting
Acting wise both can deliver the emotion and expression well. The male lead in the other hand, the acting is a bit off to me, he looks like an autism or a bit of dumb? The expression is a bit strange too.

Story
The story is quite refreshing to connect with the past and future (but in real life this likely to happen though). The main focus is not the love story, but the daily life of a normal college student who have a crush to her senior. She's shy in nature and not the type will pursue a guy even how she like him. It just it's not so clear how actually the guy feelings toward her, does he like her? If yes he should have pursue her and not go out with the best friend.
Fate bring connect her with the future son, even without any words they recognize each other: people leave their scent and some pass down to other people. So the father pass down his scent to his son and so she can recognize him even she never met him.
But the thing is why must them connect with each other? Usually this kind of genre will have some unresolved things that need to be resolve, but for this story there's no really anything to resolve or change, it just a story telling and nothing more to it.

Overall the story is not the best out there, but also not that bad. Still watchable but don't expect a love story or action or thriller or mystery. It just a normal daily life story with some unrealistic present / past / future connection. Don't expect too much.

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[Written/Watched 21 Mar, 2020 on Letterboxd. Expanded 1/23/2021]

There's something amusing about the fact that "Ditto" was released the same year as Toby Emmerich and Gregory Hoblit's "Frequency" (2000) and shares a similar premise about a magic ham radio.

But where "Frequency's" tale of a man living in 1969 connecting with his adult son in the future in a joint effort to solve cold case murders made for an adventure worth investing in (and used its gimmick to the fullest extent), "Ditto" chooses instead to wallow in melodrama of lost romances and broken hearts. It takes what could be a fairly interesting premise about a relationship disconnected by time, and squanders it entirely.

Time travel romances are a dime-a-dozen in K-Dramas. You'll find them more often than you will here in the states, yet there are more misses than hits. Overall, the ham radio barely figures into the story in any meaningful way. What could've been a cool gimmick like the mailbox in "Ill Mare" (or its counterpart, "The Lake House") is wasted.

Just watch "Frequency" instead of this.

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