With the success of the TV series in 2019, Someday or One Day (想見你) the movie sequel was something I truly looked forward to seeing. Especially when it was announced that the original cast reunited to take the high schoolers story into adulthood, and the twists that would unfold as we follow along.
The original TV series was an intricate piece of art. Unpredictable with every loop and every episode left you guessing, breathless and craving for more. I was intrigued as to what could develop further into adulthood and what changes await. Would a movie be able to continue the complexity and depth the TV series was able to bring?
Waking up to a reoccurring dream that just felt too real, Huang Yu-Hsuan (Alice Ko) pieces together the blurred lines of memories, dreams, and the uncovering of reality when she meets Li Zi-Wei (Greg Hsu) for the first time. Despite seeing him continuously in her so thought dreams. The pair are happy living in each other’s presence until one day, things change. Their desperate plea to keep one another in their lives winds up in a crossing of time and space.
Waking up in another’s body, will that be the key to getting out of these endless time loops and save their loved ones, or will it be a vicious cycle of ongoing attempts to no avail? The interesting thing about this movie is that it sits between a fine line of a continuation of the TV series but at the same time, an adaptation and standalone in its own right.
Someday or One Day takes on the same characters, the same personalities and memories, but isn’t completely a follow up from when the TV series ended. It was relatively easier to follow, and I believe the film can be easily understood even if you haven’t watched the original series prior, due to clever use of flashbacks to repaint the history. It kept the suspense, and as the film developed, you followed along to piece the puzzle together.
Once again, Greg Hsu and Alice Ko took my breath away with their phenomenal acting. I was particularly impressed by Ko where you can see and feel a change in character with no lines and purely by her gesture and the look in her eyes. It was also fantastic to see the background story to all five characters and where life led them in a short two-hour movie, in comparison to the original TV series’ 13 episodes.
Some Day or One Day shows that no matter how hard things are, how long it takes, and how little hope there is, the yearning and fight to hold onto a loved one is worth the journey. There’s a lot of courage required to take that leap, but as the movie quotes, “It’s better to have lost and loved than never to have loved at all”. In a short two-hours, I once again fell in love, had my heart broken, and hoped alongside the characters for a happy ending. As the time loops went on, I was mind boggled, with every new addition to the timeline.
I did find the movie was a lot easier to follow than the original series. It retained the distinguishing factors and the mysterious twists, centralising around choice, destiny, and hope. I was extremely glad it wasn’t a shortened remake of the TV series, and despite not being a complete continuation from the series, I was very pleased with the details and intricacy of the movie.
Remember to not blink! There are clues hidden throughout every second of Some Day or One Day and the attention to detail is exceptional. Just expect to leave the movie with Wu Bai’s “Last Dance” back in your head. Like the series, the soundtrack is fabulous as always!