soul mate movie review

‘Soul Mates’ Review: Two Innocents Get Trapped in a ‘Saw’ Game as Online Date From Hell

Annie Ilonzeh and Charlie Weber are a couple going through a grisly version of "getting to know you."

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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Everywhere you look these days there are over-the-top horror movies, but the torture-porn genre of the “ Saw ” films — homicidal mutilation served up as a “game,” with life lessons thrown in — is more or less limited to the “Saw” franchise. There haven’t been too many knockoffs of it. “ Soul Mates ,” however, has been unabashedly made in the carnival-of-ick mode of “Saw.” It even opens with two characters in handcuffs, wondering how they got to the dungeon in which they’re about to be toyed with like human lab rats.  

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First up is a karaoke bar. Allison and Jason each have a turn at the mic, and the idea is: They both have to sing well enough to win an audience-approval rating that will keep an onstage victim, bound and ball-gagged and hanging in the air, from being lowered into a meat grinder. She sings Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” and does a decent job. But Jason’s rendition of Lil Wayne’s “How to Love” is godawful. Before he’s halfway through, the victim has been lowered into the blades and churned into a long rope of hamburger. (This is a “Saw” where someone else suffers for your sins.)

From there it’s on to a “fancy” restaurant dinner, with Italian opera in the background, where if Allison and Jason don’t consume the appetizer (a big pile of bruschetta) and the main course (some mystery meat with mashed potatoes — the precise nature of the food will become relevant later on) within minutes, the waitress, who has a metal band strapped around her neck, will be promptly electrocuted. Then they’re off to the movies, where that ancient “Let’s all go to the Lob -by!” concession trailer precedes a live snuff film in which Jason’s estranged brother gets shot in the head. Actually, it’s a double feature: That first film looks civilized next to what happens to Jason’s fiancée.

As directed by Mark Gantt, “Soul Mates” is watchable semi-extreme trash. It’s not as good as the best “Saw” films, but it’s better than the worst of them. (Never did I suspect that film criticism would come to this.) The movie, it turns out, has one real trick to play on the audience. We think we’re watching a dating-site splatterfest in which the moral of the story is that the couple that lives out a chintzy faux “Saw” movie together stays together. But actually, “Soul Mates” is setting us up for the kill. The film’s theme song is “Getting to Know You” — the original trilling version from “The King and I” (1956), sung by Marni Nixon (who provided the voice for Deborah Kerr). And that bauble of catchy innocence is meant to underlie that in the age of online dating, getting to know you has never been a more deceptive — or treacherous — hall of mirrors.

Reviewed online, Oct. 16, 2023. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 87 MIN.

• Production: A Faith Media Distribution release of a Manny Halley production. Producers: Manny Halley, Rodney Turner II, William K. Baker, Yolanda Halley. Executive producers: Manny Halley, Chris Lamont, Joseph S. Russo.
• Crew: Director: Mark Gantt. Screenplay: Chris Lamont, Joseph S. Russo. Camera: Andrew Russo. Editor: Zachary Weintraub. Music: Sean Murray.
• With: Annie Ilonzeh, Charlie Weber, Neal McDonough.

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[Movie Review] Soulmate shines as it paints a dark portrait of friends

By dramaddictally.

In a story that understands not all relationships are linear, two childhood best friends embark on vastly different life journeys, but keep colliding with each other along the way. Toying with ideas of art and authenticity, the film makes us question our heroines intertwined lives right up until the very end.

  MOVIE REVIEW

Soulmate is a lot about contrasts. Hazy, fantasy-like scenes are braided together with darkly realistic moments. Stories and lies are often mistaken for true life experiences. And opposite emotions – friendship and rivalry, closeness and distance, even love and hate – are shown to be inexplicably linked when it comes to our most enduring relationships. As one character points out, shadows exist because of the sunlight.

Released theatrically in March of this year and now available for streaming, the film follows two young friends as they make their way to adulthood and navigate the life beyond. It’s a subtle tale that marks its life transitions with fractures so tiny they remain almost imperceptible to the audience — and to the main characters. By the time the damage is done, they (and we) are asking, “How did we end up like this?”

Our protagonists, AHN MI-SO ( Kim Da-mi ) and GO HA-EUN ( Jeon So-ni ), meet as pre-teens (played beautifully by Kim Soo-hyung and Ryu Jian as their respective younger selves) when Mi-so arrives to a Jeju classroom after transferring from Seoul. Right from day one, the girls are inseparable – complimenting opposite aspects of each other and picking up the slack where the other might falter.

The two are so close that when Mi-so’s mother decides to up and leave town again, Mi-so stays in Jeju with Ha-eun, rather than have her life uprooted continually. And from the beginning, this seemingly slight, almost-hidden difference has a big impact on the ways their lives play out. While outwardly they grow up like sisters, the reality is that they’re not. Mi-so has been abandoned while Ha-eun has her parents’ love. This isn’t an explanation for their behavior, but rather, it’s one of the small crevices that will deceptively add to the major crack between them.

Years flash forward and we see them as high school seniors, with Mi-so outspoken and defiant and Ha-eun quieter but eager to follow Mi-so’s trouble-ready lead. Both girls are artists and Mi-so’s dream is to travel the world and paint – living hard and burning out early like Janis Joplin. Ha-eun, though, is afraid to fly, and so she declines when Mi-so gives her the hypothetical offer of traveling the world together someday. Ha-eun is so timid that even though she’s great at drawing, she plans to follow her father’s wishes and become a teacher instead.

As we start to see the tracks laid for how their paths might diverge, the biggest breach of them all appears in the form of a boy: HAM JIN-WOO ( Byun Woo-seok ). He’s Ha-eun’s crush – and will be a life-long source of problems for the two best friends.

At the outset, there are signs of trouble. Jin-woo isn’t initially aware of Ha-eun’s existence and Mi-so (not subtly) pushes him into dating her. But it’s clear even in their first conversation – which is about Ha-eun – that Jin-woo is attracted to Mi-so. Once he and Ha-eun are firmly in a relationship, the duo becomes a trio, spending all their free time together and enjoying their final summer of youth. It isn’t long before all those playful hours culminate in a forbidden kiss that shakes Mi-so badly enough to send her fleeing to Seoul to embark on the next phase of her life.

From here, the split in the friends’ lives becomes blatant but the real reasons for it aren’t clarified until the end – when both women have had time to contend with their own lives. We see Mi-so living a bohemian lifestyle, working odd jobs and taking painting classes, until she’s ditched by whatever guy she’s taken up with and told by her art teacher that her paintings are mediocre. Yet, for five years, she writes letters back to Ha-eun, fabricating a successful life and lying about all the world travel she’s doing.

Back in Jeju, Ha-eun stays the course on her teaching career and continues her relationship with Jin-woo. All the while, she receives letters and postcards from Mi-so, and is glassy-eyed over the life Mi-so is living without her. One day, out of the blue, Mi-so arrives in Jeju and the two old friends hug and gulp back their tears without saying a word.

Their happiness to see each other is short-lived, however, when Ha-eun witnesses the way Mi-so lives – the things she does for money – and becomes judgmental. The tension rises until they’re both speaking out loud the feelings they’ve been holding secret for all these years. Jealousy, rivalry, pity, contempt – before they’ve even started dinner, Ha-eun is up from the table and leaving the restaurant and it’s clear the rift is too big to repair.

Time pushes forward again and we see Mi-so try to make a stable life for herself only to be knocked into chaos time after time. When she’s dealt a horrible blow, Jin-woo is the one to pick her up – even though he’s engaged to Ha-eun. This last betrayal leads to the movie’s climax – a fight which takes place in Jin-woo’s small, cramped apartment bathroom – where a drunk Mi-so is sobered up by the cold, hard reality of what’s happened to her friendship with Ha-eun.

The scene is quite brilliant in its nuance and also serves as a turning point for the characters as well as the audience. While Mi-so has had the harder life, Ha-eun has been the more sympathetic character. At this point, Ha-eun’s true colors come out when it’s clear she’s known Mi-so’s core weakness all along. Afterward, as they pick up the shattered pieces of their lives, they both change tracks, seemingly gaining from each other what they lack in themselves, just like they did as children.

Soulmate is gripping in its first half to three-quarters, but lags in the final stretch where it moves away from plausibility and toward melodrama to close out the story. Still, its questioning of what it means to be a soulmate is solid, with two women whose lives touch and disperse from each other continually in a tiding journey about friendship, family, love – and all the shadow sides that make the good parts shine brighter.

We’re told in the opening sequence that Ha-eun’s drawing style is called “hyper-realism” – a method by which the penciled portrait looks like a photo. With cinematography that moves from lovely washed-out colors to grainy shots that conjure the sticky summer heat – as well as a slight, resonant narrative – the movie lands in hyper-realistic territory itself. Following its painterly eye, we come to see the contrasts that make our heroines’ lives so painful and yet so beautiful.

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Tags: Byun Woo-seok , Jeon So-ni , Kim Da-mi , movie review

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September 19, 2023 at 7:31 AM

I remembered I wachted the Taiwan movie and the Chinese drama, I'm not sure I want another one version.

2 MikeyD signed up

September 19, 2023 at 7:37 am.

I watched this film as soon as I had access to it for Ki, Da-mi, but really the standout performance comes from costar Jeon So-ni. Truly excellent acting. Yes, as the film progressed my mind did go to where the story would had gone if it had been an American film. I had to keep reminding myself I was watching a Korean adaptation of a Chinese film so it would naturally be following different tropes and have different expectations.

Minnie🫘👩🏻‍🚀Pioneer and Teacher 👩🏻‍🏫🌱🏹

September 19, 2023 at 10:18 am.

Jeon So nee is a remarkable actress. She has been underutilized I feel.

DancingEmma

May 6, 2024 at 12:13 pm.

I agree. But I also really get and appreciate Kim Dami’s prickly, hiding sorrows from the world through a tough exterior image. I loved her in “Our beloved summer” even if many beanies didn’t.

May 6, 2024 at 4:44 PM

I have a strange thing going on with Kim Da Mi. I don't like to see her on screen, I do not know why, but she is fabulous actress, one of the best really. She grew so much on me in Our Beloved Summer that I ended up rewatching it just for her.

May 6, 2024 at 4:47 PM

I’m happy you watched her despite the initial aversion. I hope the aversion is now history. She is indeed a very good actor. In my view, one of the best too.

3 parkchuna ❤️🍉

September 19, 2023 at 7:47 pm.

I didn’t really understand the movie’s ending..

May 6, 2024 at 5:03 PM

• SPOILER Please scroll if you do not want to know the end.

Mi-So creates an alternate world where, in her mind, Ha-Eun is alive, doing what she wanted to do - paint and travel the world. While raising Ha-Eun's daughter, Mi-So updates Ha-Eun's blogs, paints and does exhibitions, and lets people believe that it's all Ha-Eun's work. The last scene is possibly a depiction of Ha-Eun's spirit, traversing across the icy land of Lake Baikal, a place where she dreamed of visiting.

Mi-So lets Jin-Woo back into her life, so he could have some kind of relationship with his daughter. Mi-So hides from him that Ha-Eun is dead, putting an end to all speculations that she would ever allow him to have any importance in her own life.

parkchuna ❤️🍉

May 8, 2024 at 7:35 am.

Thank you Minnie!

4 Lostpanda is celebrating My Ajusshi 💔

September 19, 2023 at 9:05 pm.

I watched the 2016 Chinese version on Viki and I liked it. Is the K version any different or worth watching if I’ve already seen the C version?

September 19, 2023 at 11:12 PM

That’s my question too. I like the original Chinese movie from which the Korean version is adapted - but is it more of the same or different? I’d certainly think the two female leads in the K-version are well worth watching.

April 6, 2024 at 5:48 PM

I’ve not watched the Chinese version though buh I will tell the Korean version is worth watching

May 6, 2024 at 6:16 PM

I have seen both.

So, some scenes are frame by frame copy of the Chinese, but where it differs greatly is the treatment of the relationship, and the characters of Ha-Eun and Mi-So. The chinese Mi-So and Korean Mi-So were very similar, but I loved the interpretation of Korean Ha-Eun. In the original, Ha-Eun was stronger of the two, and somewhat selfish. In the Korean version, Ha-Eun was softer, someone who had let everyone around her walk over her. So her quest for freedom was more believable.

The chinese actor who played Jin-Woo was phenomenal. You see his struggle between both the women, but in the end, you can't really sympathise with him, even though he makes sacrifices that Korean Jin-Woo does not.

I also loved the Korean dialogues more but the production value of the Chinese one is better.

It's worth a watch.

September 20, 2023 at 1:12 PM

I would like to watch this. Which streaming site is this available on?

MikeyD signed up

September 20, 2023 at 11:03 pm.

I just looked, it can be rented on Youtube movies, Apple TV, Amazon Video. There's also 'the streaming site that shall not be named'. Because Streaming a DRAMA on that site isn't COOL.

September 20, 2023 at 11:08 PM

Thanks a lot for sharing! 😊

May 6, 2024 at 6:19 PM

If you are in US, then you watch it on Tubi and Plex (as long as you don't mind some ads).

6 MikeyD signed up

September 20, 2023 at 11:18 pm.

I just now recalled the Louis Malle film 'Damage' (1992) starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. It comes to mind because the film ends with the male lead sitting in a white room with an entire wall covered by a huge picture of his son, rather like the huge portrait of Mi-so. Wow, that was a tiny corner of my brain I hadn't accessed in 30 years!

7 Minnie🫘👩🏻‍🚀Pioneer and Teacher 👩🏻‍🏫🌱🏹

May 6, 2024 at 7:41 am.

Why Byun Woo Seok didn't leave an impression on me in Soulmate .

The DB discussion on Byun Woo Seok had me mulling why someone like BWS left such little impact in a movie where he was the only male and had an equal number of scenes with both the leading ladies. His character was layered and suffered from confusing emotions, yet he was almost like a background shadow. To understand this, I watched Soulmate again yesterday (a part of me also wanted to rediscover BWS, but I digress).

Spoiler alert: The movie has three main characters: Mi-So (Kim Da-Mi) Ha-Eun (Jeon So-Nee) Jin Woo (Byun Woo Seok)

Mi-So and Ha-Eun are best friends, and it's their journey. Jin-Woo is Ha-Eun's crush and eventual boyfriend.

The complications start when Mi-So learns Ha-Eun has a crush on Jin-Woo, waylays him while walking to school, and sternly warns him to be good to Ha-Eun and not play with her. It has to be long-term or nothing.

While Ha-Eun and Jin-Woo end up being together soon after, Jin-Woo can't shake off his attraction to Mi-Soo, even though he seems to be in a committed relationship with Ha-Eun. Then, one day, he crosses the line and tries to kiss Mi-Soo, who rejects his advances. Curiously, while she bites and kicks him, the next moment, she asks for his good-luck charm necklace - a jujube necklace - so she can live longer (for some reason, Mi-So is convinced she will die by 27). We learn later that Ha-Eun had witnessed the incident but never confronted any of them about it.

Whether it is guilt or plain unwillingness to muddy her friend's relationship waters, Mi-So leaves Jeju with a guy, citing her desire to paint and travel the world (both women are artists).

That jujube necklace symbolises betrayal between friends and creates a rift. In Mi-So's mind, Ha-Eun has everything - a loving family, money, security and a boyfriend. She has nothing, and taking a jujube necklace from her friend's boyfriend, who also has an unhealthy crush on her, should not be a big deal. Mi-So creates a make-believe world where she is having the time of her life travelling the world and writes to Ha-Eun about them, while in reality, she is scrubbing toilets and washing dishes for survival. At the same time, Ha-Eun can only sigh wistfully over her friend's fun existence while she is mired in the mundane, comfortable life of a teacher and girlfriend of a successful man.

When the truth rears its ugly head, it's quits for the friends. Here is where the whole story turns on its head. Eventually, we realise that it wasn't as much about Ji-Woo's betrayal that hurt Ha-Eun but rather the distance it created between her and Mi-So.

Jin-Woo is a chaotic character throughout. He remains committed to Ha-Eun, but he can never truly let go of his attraction to Mi-So. He is bright and prosperous and becomes a doctor, but he still makes choices that are strange at best and questionable at worst.

One day, he chances upon Mi-So in a...

One day, he chances upon Mi-So in a vulnerable situation. He takes her home (she has been thrown out of her home after her lover loses her money and commits suicide) without telling Ha-Eun. He ignores Ha-Eun's calls and does not respond to messages while supporting Mi-So, who is drowned in drunken misery over her situation. Ha-Eun eventually flies in from Jeju and finds her fiance helping a drunk Mi-So to his apartment. In a rare exhibition of assertion, Ha-Eun takes Mi-So in and locks Jin-Woo out of his own apartment.

The two friends end up having a long, heart-wrenching discussion about what went wrong with them (it's a spectacular scene). They clear the air but don't make up.

Later, Mi-So cuts the cord with Jin-Woo by returning his jujube necklace and thanking him for helping her. In turn, Jin-Woo finally returns to Ha-Eun. She accepts him back, only to reject him at the altar on her wedding day when she realises he does not get her and perhaps finally understands that she does not want to lead a 'normal life'.

There is still a lot more left to the story. But this post is about why BWS didn't make an impression, even though this character was remarkably complex. On my second watch, I was sad that my impressions of him didn't improve much.

The situational understanding of his conflicting emotions is clear; BWS himself does not bring much to the character. There are many missed opportunities. It's unclear what makes him stick to Ha-Eun when it's apparent that Mi-So interests him. Is he looking for domesticity from Ha-Eun and forbidden fun from Mi-So?

He looks sad and seems bland in places where he should have shown passion or pathos. He is capable of both, so I don't know why he is so wooden in many crucial scenes. The chemistry between the women is off the charts, while his chemistry with both women is meh. It could be the director's intent to keep him like that because eventually, we realise that while he, in his own way, loved both the women, none of them were really into him because all they needed was each other. 

In the end, Soulmate was a miss for BWS, and I am thrilled The Lovely Runner happened for him.

May 6, 2024 at 12:23 PM

I haven’t been able to find this movie but read a thoughtful article that raised the issue of a same sex love relationship which couldn’t be told due to the prevailing reality of how queer women are rendered invisible in SK both in RL and in entertainment. At least, the BLs exist and thrive in SK but try and see if you can find an equivalent genre depicting queer women. The writer echoed your views about BWS’ character and stated that in their view, the writer intended for him to be regarded as an ultimately redundant person in their lives. Miso and Haeun were always the loves of each others’ lives.

May 6, 2024 at 4:52 PM

There were a couple of very interesting allegorical scenes that might allude to Ha-Eun's real feelings for Mi-So, but it's very subtle and you can depict it either way.

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Soul Mates Review: The Saw Rom-Com You Never Knew You Needed

Annie Illonzeh and Charlie Weber play two people forced into a sadistic puzzle to find their soulmate.

Allison (Annie Illonzeh) and Jason (Charlie Weber) wake up and find themselves in a very interesting situation. They've been kidnaped and chained together by a dating service known as Soul Mates, and are informed by the Matchmaker (Neal McDonough) that they need to sign up for their services which help you find your soulmate. Of course, what the Matchmaker really means by all of that is, "I want to play a game."

So you've got one or more people waking up in a strange location, a mazelike factory or warehouse setting, elaborate deathtraps, a sadistic game master on a video screen, and a twist ending. It's all things that most horror fans have already seen, so your enjoyment of this movie depends entirely on how played out you feel all those tropes are. Unfortunately for Soul Mates , one thing going against it is the timing of its release. Not only is it coming out on the heels of yet another Saw movie , but the best reviewed Saw movie of all time.

Of course, to all the writers out there, trying to come up with something that's never been done before is a good way of driving yourself crazy. The key to success is not always being completely original, but coming up with a new angle to put on something. In that regard, Soul Mates succeeds by giving us Saw by way of a romantic comedy. And in case you're wondering, yes, there is an element of humor to the film, though you need a specific sense of humor.

Saw: Top 10 Worst Ways to Die in the Franchise, Ranked

It's subtle, but the comic relief in the film mostly comes from the Matchmaker's glib commentary and the ridiculous scenarios the main characters are put through. For instance, at one point they need to save two people from being assassinated by winning a karaoke contest. Some directors would have played into the silliness inherent within the premise by making it even more over-the-top and campy, but director Mark Gantt plays things much more straight. And it works, though some audience members may prefer the former approach having been taken.

Spoiler Warning

What a Twist

In most movies like this, the world outside the games is either never seen or relegated to only a brief few minutes. Soul Mates , however, goes in a different direction by having Allison and Jason win their freedom with about half an hour still to go. Of course, any moviegoer worth their salt knows that means there's going to be another plot twist, and Soul Mates goes with one that most audience members are probably going to see coming.

The Most Shocking Twists in Horror Movies, Ranked

It turns out that Jason hired the Matchmaker and Soul Mates to make Allison fall in love with him, which casts all of his earlier actions in the movie in a completely different light. Jason also reveals that all the deaths which happened during the games were actually staged; now that's a twist which is a bit harder to see coming, at least assuming that Jason is telling the truth. His credibility is a little shot by that point, but if true, then the film emulates David Fincher's classic, The Game , by ret-conning everything you've seen before and putting it all in a new, less menacing light.

Should You Swipe Right?

While Soul Mates not be the most original of movies out there, it is a solid and entertaining film. The best parts of the film are its performances from Weber, Illonzeh, and especially a fun Neal McDonough . The directing and cinematography is also well done; it's ultimately an efficient, well-made little thriller that asks some interesting questions about romance. So, if you needed a scary movie to double feature with Saw X this Halloween season, we'd highly recommend pairing it with Soul Mates . Call it Saw Mates , if you will.

From Faith Media Distribution, Soul Mates will be in theaters on Oct. 20.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Soulmates’ On AMC, An Anthology About People Matched Up By A Biological Test

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If you’ve gotten together with your spouse or significant other over the past 20 years, there’s a good chance that you were matched up by an online dating service that purported to match people based on some nebulous compatibility score. But, the anthology series  Soulmates posits this question: What if a scientific test led to a genetic soulmate match? Would you turn your life upside down to meet this person? Read on for more…

SOULMATES : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A commercial for Soul Connex, a service that will match you to your soulmate through a test that identifies your “soul gene,” which was identified in 2023.

The Gist:   Soulmates is an anthology series, set in the near future, that tells stories about couples affected by this “test”, whether they were brought together by Connex or they were torn apart by it. In the first episode, “Watershed,” we see Nikki (Sarah Snook, Succession ) look at her wedding ring while waiting to take the test. Flash back a few weeks, and we see her and her husband Franklin (Kingsley Ben-Adir) groggily waking up as one of their two children are screaming.

Nikki and Franklin have been married for fifteen years, and while Franklin thinks their marriage couldn’t be stronger, Nikki isn’t as sure. She’s rocked when her neighbor Jennifer (Dolly Wells) tells her she’s going to take the test, despite being married for 18 years. She just thinks she missed out on something, and wants to find out if she’s right. Nikki, for her part, seems to be content, but starts to feel that things haven’t felt complete for a long time.

That feeling comes home to roost when she attends the wedding of her brother Peter (Darren Boyd), an immature player nearing 50, to his Connex match Rose (Anna Wilson-Jones), whom he only met a few weeks prior. At a dinner party, he and Rose talked about how she broke off a long-term relationship to be with him, almost sight unseen, just because of the test, and the fact that their love was “undeniable.” And while Nikki makes fun of it with Franklin when they get home, she starts wondering if she should do it.

Nikki sees couples matched up by the test being happy, including her brother, who sticks with the relationship with Rose despite getting in fights. It doesn’t take long for her to wonder if couples like her and Franklin, who met right after college and seem to still be in love and attracted to each other all these years later, are now considered the “strange” ones because they didn’t take the test. Her doubts put a complete strain on their marriage, causing tiffs and fights, where it gets to the point where she sits down for the test, especially after she sees Jen with her match, seemingly happy.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Soulmates sort of feels like Black Mirror , if the whole series were about an eHarmony-like service.

Our Take: We watched the first two episodes of  Soulmates , created by William Bridges and Brett Goldstein, and the they couldn’t have been any more different than each other. The first episode, described above, is a pretty straightforward story about a seemingly happy marriage torn apart by doubts sown by this newfangled soulmate test that is sweeping the world.

The second episode, starring David Costabile and Sonya Cassidy, involves a college professor who did the test but hid his profile after meeting his future well-connected wife. When a woman comes to him saying that they matched, he becomes attracted to her and they have an affair. But he soon finds out that this woman isn’t what she presents herself to be. This one felt more  Black Mirror -esque, with twists and turns in the story as the professor’s past is dredged up and the reasons why he was set up are revealed.

But, to be honest, we enjoyed the first, more relationship-focused episode a whole lot more than the second, more conspiracy-focused one. It could be because Snook put on an acting showcase during multiple monologues (boy, do we miss  Succession right about now) but it also truly made us feel feelings, mainly feeling bad for poor Franklin. There’s a scene where, during a play put on by his daughters and niece, Nikki notices a little tear coming out of the corner of Franklin’s eye, and that’s the moment we knew that he thought he was losing her. The final scene, which we won’t discuss here, is a complete crusher, showing how this test will ruin more relationships than it creates, just by sowing the same doubt it sowed in Nikki.

Those are the types of episodes where  Soulmates shines. The more conspiracy-oriented, twisty-turny ones, the ones that try to be like  Black Mirror , don’t work nearly as well. The ending of the second episode came out of left field, and even the twists felt somewhat predictable as the episode went along. There’s more than enough story fodder to make episodes about the creepiness of this test and how quickly people are willing to tear apart their lives just because they think the test knows all. There’s no need to vary things by immediately showing us stories where people use the test to commit crimes.

Sex and Skin: There’s sex in both episodes, but it’s never really shown and everyone keeps their clothes on.

Parting Shot: At the end of the first episode, Nikki and Franklin have an encounter that leaves both of them sad and wondering if they both made a huge mistake.

Sleeper Star: Darren Boyd is one of those character actors that you’ve seen a million times, playing both Brits and Americans, and he’s been terrific every time he’s been on screen. Here, playing the super-immature Peter, he is goofy, serious, angry, confident, and in love, often during the same scene.

Most Pilot-y Line: Why do all near-future shows indicate it’s the near future with transparent phones, transparent computer monitors and things like the weather displayed on bathroom mirrors and refrigerators? Transparent screens would be annoying to look at against a busy background, and I don’t need the five-day forecast showing on my mirror; that’s what saying “Hey, Google” is for, which feels invasive enough as it is.

Our Call: STREAM IT.  Soulmates boasts a ton of great actors putting in fine performances, but you may want to look at the episode descriptions first before plowing forward. There are some that we think will be way more satisfying than others.

Should you stream or skip #SoulmatesAMC on @AMC_TV ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) October 6, 2020

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream  Soulmates On AMC.com

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Two women who have been close friends since adolescence must cope with the changes that maturity brings. Two women who have been close friends since adolescence must cope with the changes that maturity brings. Two women who have been close friends since adolescence must cope with the changes that maturity brings.

• Derek Tsang
• Anni Baobei
• Wing-Sum Lam
• Dongyu Zhou
• 8 User reviews
• 16 Critic reviews
• 32 wins & 54 nominations

• Qiyue's dad
• Xiao Ansheng
• Qiyue's mom
• Lin Qiyue (youth)
• Jiaming's Classmate
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• Trivia Both Faye Wong and her daughter, Leah Dou, have their own songs used in the film.
• Connections Remade as Soulmate (2023)
• Soundtracks (It's not a crime) It's just what we do Composed, Lyrics & Performed by Leah Dou

User reviews 8

• lasttimeisaw
• Apr 10, 2020
• How long is Soulmate? Powered by Alexa
• September 23, 2016 (United States)
• Official site
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• J.Q. Pictures
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• $8,000,000 (estimated)
• $24,864,375

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• Runtime 1 hour 50 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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