If you’re looking for a movie to watch this holiday season, I’d like to suggest Ajoomma as a contender for your time.

Yes, it’s not quite a typical holiday movie, but I do feel that it serves up enough heartwarming feels – with lashings of poignance – to make the cut.

I watched this as my holiday movie pick, this past Christmas weekend, and ended up liking it very well.

Come see if you’d like it too, maybe?

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Lim Bee Hwa (Hong Hui Fang), a Singaporean “auntie” (the equivalent of a Korean ahjumma – or ajoomma, in Show’s terms), who loves Korean dramas, ends up going on a group tour to Korea on her own, when her son, who was supposed to go with her, cancels at the last minute.

When Bee Hwa gets accidentally left behind by the tour group in a random corner of Korea, she embarks on an adventure to find her way back to them.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are a few things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. Our story leans simple

Some movies pack a lot of plot points into their 90 minutes of screen time, but this show isn’t one of those.

Our story is a pretty simple one, with the emotional beats being the highlights of the show, rather than the plot points themselves.

I think adjusting your expectations around that, helps.

2. Context is helpful

If you’re a drama fan, this helps, coz that means that some of Bee Hwa’s experiences – like learning Korean phrases from dramas – would resonate extra, with you.

If you’re a Singaporean, this helps too, coz that means that you’d identify with the Singaporean quirks shown in the movie.

If you’re a Singaporean drama fan – like me! – then all the better, coz this means that you’d appreciate both aspects extra. 😁

If you’re not a Singaporean drama fan, however, but have been curious to know more about Singapore (like all you lovely folks on Patreon), this movie does give you a nice glimpse of everyday, unvarnished Singapore life.

STUFF I LIKED

1. The worlds colliding effect

I grew up watching Hong Hui Fang, who plays Bee Hwa, on my screen, so it was pretty trippy to me, to see her in a Korean context, interacting with Korean actors whom I’ve become so familiar with, like Jung Dong Hwan, Kang Hyung Suk and Yeo Jin Goo.

I got a good amount of thrill from that alone, honestly. 😁

2. Seeing Kang Hyung Suk speak Mandarin

I’ve enjoyed Kang Hyung Suk in a number of shows now, like Hometown Cha Cha Cha, Lost and Love In Contract, and was pleased to have him back on my screen.

As a big bonus, I was honestly blown away by how well he speaks Mandarin!

Like, sure the diction is not perfect, but his tones are spot-on, and I never had to think twice to figure out what he was saying in Mandarin; I just always instinctively knew, because his tones were that good.

Really well done, I thought. 🤩

3. The underlying poignance

There’s an on-going theme in our story, of the isolation and loneliness that many elderly folks live with, as they live their lives.

I like that Show isn’t super heavy-handed with this, yet manages to bring out how this is a universal thing that many older folks identify with.

4. The overriding warmth

There is a lot of warmth, in the idea of strangers helping one another, out of the goodness of their hearts, and this was a big highlight of my watch.

It kinda-sorta reminds of the real-life incident of a bunch of Korean tourists getting stranded in a snowstorm in the US, and getting taken in by the kind strangers whose house they’d gotten stranded in front of, for the holidays.

(Our very own j3ffc was inspired to write a dream drama as a result, and you can check that out here!)

I was particularly taken with the budding bond between Bee Hwa and Jung Dong Hwan’s character, listed Jung Su.

They can barely understand each other, but kindness wins, and I love that. 🥲

5. Excellent actors in our main roles

I thought all three of our key characters were really well-played.

Hong Hui Fang perfectly brings out Bee Hwa’s sadness in her isolation, along with the brave front that she puts on, to try to make the best of things.

Kang Hyung Suk is pitch perfect as the flippant-slacker-with-hidden-angst tour guide, who’s really good-hearted, underneath his apparent irreverence.

The standout for me, though, was Jung Dong Hwan, who plays Jung Su, the kind security guard who extends a helping hand to Bee Hwa.

He brings out such a faceted response to Jung Su’s isolation, without needing to say a word: sadness, wistfulness, acceptance and contentment.

Just fantastic. 🤩

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

During my watch, I honestly wondered how Show would end this story, because it felt like we were just barely getting started, when it came time to start winding things up.

I guess that’s part of my drama conditioning coming into play; I felt like there was so much more story that could be developed, and I was interested in seeing it all.

I loved the growing bond between Jung Su and Bee Hwa, even though they could barely manage to communicate using the few English phrases that they had in common.

The scene that really stands out to me, is when Jung Su makes to leave the hotel, and Bee Hwa goes after him, because she doesn’t want to say goodbye.

Their goodbye in the car, is so poignant and bittersweet.

Him telling her to go home and live well in Korean, and her, saying “Okay” to his “Okay?” – even though she didn’t understand a word that he’d said.

There’s something so affecting about that, to me; these two have clearly made some kind of connection, in the short time that they’ve spent together, in spite of all the communication barriers between them. I love it. 🥲

I felt really bad for Bee Hwa, when her son Sam (Shane Pow) calls, and tells her that he’s moving to the US to be with his boyfriend, even though he didn’t get the job that he’d interviewed for.

I appreciate that Bee Hwa is shown to be quickly accepting of her son, despite him coming out to her as gay like this, over the phone.

I believe the reason she cries after the call, isn’t because she’s found out that her son is gay; it’s because, with him moving to the US like this, she’ll be all alone in Singapore now, thus making her even more isolated than she’d been, before this trip.

I’m glad, though, that Bee Hwa finds the joy of living for herself, where before, she’d lived for her family.

I believe that that incident, where she dances in the falling snow, in response to seeing snow for the first time, is the first spark of this epiphany; that there is joy in living for herself.

My favorite detail in Show’s closing minutes, is the indication that Jung Su and Bee Hwa are still in contact.

They may not share the same language, but it feels like, as he sends her his wood carvings, and she receives them happily, they’re giving each other a sense of solidarity, and making each other’s lives a little happier, just by making each other feel seen.

And of course, beyond that, I like that we get to see Bee Hwa living life with a new sense of independence, purpose and confidence.

It’s so cute that she’s now a driving instructor, after nearly crashing Jung Su’s car in Korea.

That’s a great indication of how far she’s come now – as is the fact that she’s able to sing about her new life, with such a sense of carefree cheer.

Well done, and power to you, Ajoomma. 🥲

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Heartwarming and bittersweet – with less bitter, than sweet.

FINAL GRADE: B+

TRAILER:

WHERE TO WATCH:

Show is available to stream on Amazon Prime.