In the years at the start of the Korean New Wave, a number of titles from the country broke out that showed the wider audience what the cinema of the country was capable of in an all-round fashion. One genre that the filmmakers there have always been rather proficient at is the romantic melodrama and works like “Christmas in August” reiterated the same at the start of the New Wave. However, in 2000 came “Ditto”, a “science-fiction” romance that was unlike something the South Korea had produced before, a feature that went on to be a big hit with the audience. The story, a high-concept romance which connects two people in different eras through a ham radio, resonated with and is much loved by audiences and storytellers alike, so much so that 22 years later, we get a modern day namesake retelling from “Go Back” director Seo Eun-young.
This time, we start in 1999, where Kim Yong is a popular high school student who is increasingly infatuated with new transfer student Han-sol, who he offers to guide around the school. In an attempt to impress her and spend more time with her, he borrows his best friend's ham radio, something Han-sol seems to have an interest in but doesn't know much about. One night, when a total lunar eclipse occurs, his unused, disconnected ham radio comes to life and through it comes the voice of a girl Mu-nee, who, as it turns out, attends the same school as Kim. The two form a friendship over the ham radio, sharing their love stories and giving pointers to each other. But when they try to meet up, they realize a major glitch: they are both from a different era in time, with Mu-nee living in the modern day and Kim Yong back in the past.
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Before getting into the new iteration, it is imperative to mention that Kim Jeong-kwon's 2000 original feature has a fine, sweet story to it, a 110-minutes narrative that tells the tale of its two leads briskly yet with an edge of lingering melancholy to it. For the most part, Seo Eun-young manages to keep the narrative just as sweet and innocent in her retelling. The changes she does to the original are minor, like Kim Yong being in the past here as opposed to the male lead Ji-in in the original being in the then-modern day 1999. Starting her story in the past in 1999, which was the modern day for the New Wave hit, is a nice touch. With that, Seo does well to bring the narrative and her characters into the modern era, making it relatable to the youth today.
The youth clearly are the target audience here, as is also evident from the casting of actors mostly popular and loved in their tv drama appearances. The baby-faced but manly-voiced Yeo Jin-goo, who had a good turn in the series “Beyond Evil” is effective casting, even if he pales just a bit in comparison to the inherent charisma of the young Yoo Ji-tae. Mu-nee, on the other hand, is a far sight removed from Kim Ha-neul's shy and timid Yoon So-eun, and is played well by Cho Yi-hyun, possibly most popular for her turn in the Netflix zombies-in-a-school series “All of Us Are Dead”, who brings a bubbly attractiveness and naivety to Mu-nee. Meanwhile, Kim Hye-yoon, who impressed massively as the titular character in the feature “Girl on a Bulldozer”, is adorable and very likeable as Kim Yong's object of affection Han-sol.
What isn't likeable however is the runtime of “Ditto”. In trying to set itself apart, it adds a number of narrative choices and plot devices that don't do much to serve the storyline. The tortoise thread is interesting, but ends up going into implausible territory near the end. If Kim Hyeong-ju had been stricter with the edit, the feature could have flown a lot smoother and it would have impacted the narrative more, in a way that Jeong Ki-wook's cinematography, which manages to separate both the past and the present successfully with their own visual styles, and Kim Hong-jib's music do.
At one point in the narrative, a character quips, “They say romance existed in the past. Does it no longer?” It seems that with “Ditto”, Seo Eun-young is on a mission to prove that it does, as the does very little other than bring the story of the original into the modern day. Fans of the feature from 2000 might wonder why this retelling exists, but audiences that have not seen the previous work will undoubtedly be swept away by the story and the endearing work from the new star-cast.
