20th Century Girl is set in 1999 for the better part of its runtime and it seems the writers live in that era as well. We wonder if they forgot the movie is releasing in 2022. Starring Kim Yoo-yung, Byeon Woo-seok, Roh Yoon-seo and Park Jung-woo, the film revolves around Bo-ra (Yoo-yung) who promised her ill best friend Kim Yeon-do (Roh Yoon-seo) she will collect as much information about her crush as she can while Yeon-do gets a heart surgery abroad. But then Yeon-do mixes up the name and everything goes haywire. Young Actors’ Retreat: 5 Things We Learnt About Kim Yoo Jung, Park Seo Joon, Hwang In Youp And More From Korean Variety Show.
At the heart of it, 20th Century Girl is a slice-of-life film about love, friendship and loss. It was meant to stir some nostagic romantic feelings. While it did do that, the feeling was overpowered by a flawed representation of love. Let us give you five flaws in the film which made 20th Century Girl a disturbing film.
Stalking
Movies in the 90s in India glorified stalking. Heroes chased the heroines who clearly expresses her disinterest in them. It seems SK was no different. Yoo-yung in her bid to gather info about Yeon-do’s crush goes to extreme lengths from stalking him day in and day out, following him around not only to his house but his friend’s as well, his height and more. The bar gets lower further when she tries to peep and see the guy’s pager number.
We understand it’s the 90s when people, perhaps, felt stalking someone is the only way to get info rather than asking them, it should have been called out.
Pushing Poong Woon-ho away
Quite obviously consent didn’t really factor here. So when Bo Ra realises her mistake, she tries to set Poong Woon-ho ((Byeon Woo-seok) up with her best friend and ignores her own feelings. Nowhere did she care to ask what Woon-ho wants or feels about the entire mismatch. It’s not a sacrifice, it’s called being selfish!
The lies
Bo Ra first lies to Yeon-do and then to Poong Woon-ho, ruining not just a relationship but friendship too. The good part is Yeon-do does blame her for messing it all up. Guess we can take heart from that! “20th Century Girl” Actor Byeon Woo Seok Talks About His First Love
The Loss
Sorry for the spoiler but not explaining how one of the key characters dies is plain absurd. This is 2022 and people have watched enough content to ask relevant questions. ‘How did the person die?’ is something that will nibble you even after the film is over. No, that doesn’t qualify as an open ending!
20th century girl (2022) pic.twitter.com/oLkYepMWBY
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Neglecting the other guy
Bo Ra chases the wrong person, Baek Hyun jin (Park Jung-woo), initially. She even saves his life once and the man develops feelings for her. She doesn’t just shoo him away but doesn’t even care to explain the situation. The writer to get extremely neglectful towards him by relegating him to just a driver.
20th Century Girl could have been in the same league as A Millionaire’s First Love but ended up being yet another romantic downer.
(The above story first appeared on Today News 24 on Nov 03, 2022 07:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website todaynews24.top).