Will You Be There

Hong Ji-young's 2016 South Korean film is about a surgeon with a terminal illness. Taking pills he receives from an elderly patient, Su-hyeon travels thirty years back to 1985 and finds his younger self. His aim is to prevent the death of Yeon-a, the woman he lost in those years, while the young Su-hyeon does not know what doing so will do to his own life. The film makes no attempt to explain the rules of time travel and keeps its science fiction in the background; its real subject is the cost of taking a loss back. The conversations between the old and young Su-hyeon are at the centre and Kim Yun-seok gives them weight. It is adapted from a French novel. The tone is emotional and the last section plays openly for tears. Who it's for: viewers who like Korean melodrama and time travel stories. Who it's not for: anyone expecting consistent time-travel logic; the film does not care about it.