*Contains spoilers*

"In 1999, a teen girl keeps close tabs on a boy in school on behalf of her deeply smitten best friend - then she gets swept up in a love story of her own."

kim yoo-jung and byeon woo-seok 20th century girl — 20th Century Girl is a 90's inspired Netflix film about first loves and friendships. Set in 1999, the story centers around Na Bo-ra, a 17-year-old high school student who would do anything for her sick best friend. As the school year starts, her best friend suddenly announces that she doesn't want to leave for her scheduled heart surgery because she has fallen in love with a boy from their school. To reassure her friend, Bo-ra promises to find out everything about the boy. Little did she know that following her best friend's crush around will lead to twists and turns that will make her experience her first love... and heart break.

20th Century Girl has been the talk of the town upon its release and as I kept on seeing it on my Facebook feed, I couldn't help not to get curious. The trailer looked promising, and I like nostalgic shows, so I had high expectations.

THE GOOD PARTS:

I’m already in my 30’s so high school romances like this don’t appeal as much to me anymore but I’ll give the movie credit for the lead actors’ visuals and chemistry. I also like the turn-of-the-century setting which takes us back to the era of beepers, movie rentals and payphones.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK FOR ME

I find some parts too cliche or exaggerated (to the point of being cringey)...

To be honest, as I was writing this review and look back at these scenes, the more cringey they seem.

Bo-ra's character, the typical "clumsy and funny" with overreacted scenes and expressions just seem overly used to me by now. This is probably one reason why I don’t watch as much romance k-dramas anymore.

Too much plot twists and so many questions.

I feel like there are certain parts in the storyline that doesn't make sense. I am not a writer, but this is how I felt watching as a viewer. I felt like the writer tried so hard to make it “unpredictable” with its many plot twists, however, it only led to plot holes instead.

Like how come, in all those years, nobody in their school knew that Woon-ho died, not even his best friend. I mean I get it it's pretty common to lose connection with some people, but it was already the era of the internet, not snail mail.

Some parts just don't make sense... especially the ending.

To be honest, I would have appreciated this movie if it was given a happy ending instead. And that's not because I don't appreciate sad endings or open endings, some endings actually make the story more impactful. But for this one, I think a happy and simpler ending would have been more fitting. Or even if they don't give a happy ending, at least give the viewers actual ANSWERS lol. Because the biggest question is, how did Woon-ho die?

I just feel like Woon-ho dying isn’t really needed in the overall story. I actually wished they stuck with the original plot and didn’t add the latter part of the movie with Woon-ho moving away.

movies with bad endings — that time when they left us out during the most important part of the conversation lol

Conclusion:

This is not the first time that I’ve seen a Korean movie or show that looked promising but ended up underwhelming. I've been seeing this become a common scenario in Korean shows. I don't know if it's because of high expectations that some writers try too hard to make a story different when they don't really have to? Like adding plot twists that don't really add up. Take a look at "Sweet & Sour" for example. I feel like “less is more” would have made this movie better.

I’d say the movie is okay overall. I mean I still finished it given that it’s a 2-hour movie. But it’s not the kind of film that I’d remember years from now as it didn’t make a lasting impact.

***

One more thing, I couldn’t get over Woon-ho’s heartfelt letter that got soaked in the rain. Bo-ra never got to read it. Such a wasted potential.