The new Netflix youthful love romance 20th Century Girl is a cheerful smile-fest as well as a melancholy look at growing up.
It portrays the youthful energy and yearning, as well as the high emotions that follow everything from friendships to first loves. Before it takes a somber turn in the final quarter, it’s a sunny day movie to kick back and remember your first crush, no matter the century.
The cinematography in 20th Century Girl is the film’s initial distinguishing element. It’s washed in turned-up hues that make you feel like you’re scrolling through Instagram filters, but that’s not a criticism. It gives the entire thing a Candyland flavor and makes it feel like a dream, which it is. It’s a flashback to when the protagonist, NA BO-RA (Kim Yoo-Jung), was in high school, worrying about her best friend’s heart problem and, later, her own heart when she falls in love.
We begin in the present, with Han Hyo-Joo portraying adult Bo-ra. Her father (Jung Suk-Yong) contacts her from Cheongju, where she grew up, to inform her that she has received a box. It’s a VHS tape of a movie rated R that was taken from her father’s video rental company in 1999 and never returned. It comes with an invitation to an art exhibition.
When Bo-ra sees the video cover, a humorous recollection returns to her. POONG WOON-HO, the boy who became her first love, was the borrower (Byun Woo-Seok). We begin our voyage inside Bo-memories Ra’s by excavating this relic, which depicts how they met and got to know each other, and ultimately how things ended.
We’re transported back to 1999, where Bo-ra is sending her closest friend KIM YEON-DOO (Roh Yoon-Seo) to the United States for heart surgery. Yeon-doo appears to be the kind to have a crush every minute, but the boy she just met before leaving is the one.
Bo-ra pledges to find out all she can about Yeon-doo’s new crush while she’s away, and she creates an email account to relay all the information to Yeon-doo. So far, all she knows is that the boy’s name is BAEK HYUN-JIN (Park Jung-woo). And, in less than five minutes, we’re off on our escapades for Bo-ra to keep her word by following Hyun-jin about.
The following hour and a half takes place in 1999 and is best described as brilliant — both visually and narratively. Kim Yoo-Jung is as amusing, beautiful, and active as ever, displaying the skillful high kicks we’ve seen from her in previous work (I love how she always gets to take down bullies). As Bo-first Ra’s love, Byun Woo-Seok is simply gorgeous, tugging at the heartstrings and making me feel nothing but sympathy for his character.
These two are quite dreamy together, and the tale is at its finest when they’re dealing with high school realities like flirtations, rejections, and missed appointments. It all unfolds when Bo-ra discreetly explores Hyun-life jin’s and becomes close to his best buddy, Woon-ho, in the process.
Woon-ho assists Bo-ra in obtaining the information she seeks, but this results in more than a few misunderstandings regarding who likes who in our quartet of characters. As Bo-ra and Woon-ho gradually realize they are like one other, the picture reveals the innocence of a period when everything is still uncertain.
The first kiss is gratifyingly delayed by a series of mistakes, and when it does occur, it is the sweetest, fastest, and most genuine first kiss I can imagine. It won’t make your heart skip a beat, but it will make you happy with its innocence and nostalgia – a reminder that a first kiss only comes once. The film’s quick speed and effervescence in the first half are just what the subject matter requires.
The location in the 1990s, which is required for certain storyline lines, works by not detracting from the story. It avoids the temptation in films about the recent past to caricature the time being recalled by not going overboard with set pieces or trying too hard to restrict its era.
The lack of widespread mobile phones, like any other twentieth-century narrative, places it in its historical context. When Woon-ho spends the entire night in front of Bo-Ra’s house because he can’t reach her, I thought, that’s not just a story element, that’s a real depiction of the times. Nothing symbolizes being a teenager in the 1990s more than hopefully waiting around.
There’s a storyline twist (which I won’t divulge) around halfway through that becomes foreseeable before it happens but is still gratifying to watch. Unfortunately, the film’s charm fades after that. The connection between the two girls, which frames the idea and allows the action to unfold, comes across as a little forced.
This dynamic thus complicates the natural blossoming of love connections. I was taken out of the film and reminded that the personalities of these children were developed by adults, which is a shame because the achingly romantic beginning fully hooked me on the mishaps of first falling in love.
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The final 25 minutes of the film, which propels us forward to the present, take an unexpected turn, converting what we’ve just seen into a different scenario. The tone shift and additional dramatization compel a reassessment of the film’s central theme. What begins as a believable first love story becomes overly particular and loses some of its beauty.
Even if the movie deviates into angsty territory after the revelation, 20th Century Girl is worth seeing for its gorgeous first half. The last stretch may have been omitted entirely to fit neatly within a genre.
It may cause nostalgic tears in individuals who are in a reflective mindset. Others may find it overly sad without being realistic.
