A Day

A celebrated doctor returning from a high profile meeting with the UN encounters a traffic accident on the way to meet his daughter; to his horror, he realises that she is one of the victims of the crash. Then his life rewinds and he lives the day again, and again, each time trying to alter the inevitable chain of events which leads to his daughter's death. This ambitiously high concept thriller has a baffling timeline but, thanks to deft editing, it more or less manages to keep all of its juggled story elements in the air.

There are many movies from Groundhog Day (1993) to Happy Death Day (2017) where the protagonist relives the same day again and again. This Korean time-loop movie is based on the same concept but explores the consequences and redemption of an act.

This film begins with an esteemed doctor by the name of "Jun-young Kim" (Myong-Min Kim) waking up during a flight on an airplane and being asked by the "Flight Attendant" (played by Yuha Lee) for his autograph. He thinks nothing of it and, at the prompting of his assistant, even takes a picture with her. Then, upon arriving at the airport in South Korea, he stops to save the life of a young boy who was choking on some candy. Once again, being the humble man he is, he thinks nothing of it and hurries to meet his young daughter "Eun-jung" (Eun-hyung Jo) who is walking to a rendezvous point to meet him. However, on the way there, he notices a car accident and immediately stops to render assistance to the driver. After a little while, he also notices a crowd of people have gathered on the other side of the intersection and, upon checking it out, is dismayed to discover the dead body of his young daughter lying there in a pool of blood. Then, after wandering around for 30 minutes in a stunned state of disbelief, he awakens once more on the airplane with a flight attendant asking for his autograph. Incredulous about all of this, he calls his daughter and finds out that she is still alive and that she is heading out to a rendezvous point to meet him. Although he is quite anxious to meet her, he first has to help a young boy in the airport who is choking on some candy. Having done that, he immediately drives his car to pick up his daughter--only to discover that he has arrived too late and that she is lying on the pavement in a pool of blood. Thirty minutes later he again awakens on the airport with the flight attendant asking for his autograph. It's then that he realizes that he is stuck in a time loop and no matter what he does he cannot change what is about to happen. The scene then shifts to a young man named "Min-chul" (Yo-Han Byun) discovering that his wife "Mi-kyung" (Hye-Sun Shin) has been killed while being driven in a taxi that was involved in a fatal auto accident. Thirty minutes later he goes through the same process again and again. After a little while, he notices that, while everybody seems to be doing the exact same thing over and over again, there is one specific person doing different things. And he suddenly realizes that this person is also sharing the same time loop. So, in desperation, he gets this man's attention and together both he and Jun-young Kim agree to cooperate with one another to change this tragic course-of-events. What they don't realize is that there is another person sharing their time loop who has a totally different view of the situation--and he will do whatever it takes to have things continue as they are. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be an entertaining film which benefited from the multiple twists and turns along the way. Admittedly, there were a couple of scenes that I didn't particularly care for, but even so, I enjoyed this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

Repeating days or hours is not exactly original in the movies, but here it's done emotionally. I was captivated as the story unfolded and I think you will be too. Highly recommended.

You've got to give credit where it is due and the Korean's have found their niche when it comes to dramatic thrillers. When you sit down to watch one, you can count on a steady pace, a healthy dose of action and well, to be honest, they can actually go a little overboard with the drama but they do it well.

In this film, we find a doctor of worldwide fame returning home after a long business trip. While he is an over achiever when it comes to his job, he is not doing all that great when it comes to being there for his daughter. He has missed her last birthday. She's skeptical when it comes to him actually showing up when he says he will but they make plans to meet up. While making their separate way to each other, the daughter is struck and killed by a vehicle and he sees it happen. The day begins a cycle of repetition leaving him to search for the reasons behind the occurrence and a way to save the life of his daughter.

I enjoyed this. It did a wonderful job of holding my interest with several twists and turns. It is well scripted, acted and filmed. My only complaint is that,like I mentioned before, they have a tendency to lay the drama on pretty thick. It can draw you in sometimes and at other times it can seem a bit over played. It's still a great film but for me the drama was just a tad heavy at times.

I would suggest this to my friends without hesitation. I can't say that this is my favorite dramatic thriller to come out of Korea but it is one that holds its own and doesn't fail to deliver. I say check it out.