‘20th Century Girl’ (2022) Review: A Familiar Story that Deals with Romance and Friendship
Bang Woo-ri’s 20th Century Girl takes you back to 1999. A nostalgic love story that follows a young girl experiencing her first love and the troubles with friendships. The movie takes the central protagonist, Na Bo-ra (Kim Yoo-jung) back to her hometown and the days which have been etched in her memories forever. Teenage years can bring a lot of emotions and heartbreak to young people. 20th Century Girl is a familiar story that explores several themes of romance and heartbreak.
When Bo-ra’s best friend, Yeon-du (Roh Yoon-seo) leaves for America to get a life-changing surgery that could save her life, she asks her to keep track of her crush, Baek Hyun-jin. After weeks of following Hyun-jin around the school, measuring his height and finding out his favourite sport and participating in his extracurricular activity, Bo-ra isn’t any closer to being his friend. Hyun-jin’s best friend, Poong Woon-ho (Byeon Woo Seok) knows that Bo-ra has a crush on him and he tries to help her. But as Woon-ho and Bo-ra spend time together, they realise they have feelings for each other. Their short romance ends abruptly when Yeon-du returns to South Korea after a successful surgery and Bo-ra finds herself in a difficult situation. Will she be honest with herself or will she tell her best friend the truth about everything?
20th Century Girl shows the silliness and awkwardness of young love. It portrays the painful moments of letting your crush know whether you like them or not. It’s interesting to watch Bo-ra find the true meaning of what it feels like to fall for someone, even at such a young age. Her utter recklessness in the situation could have ruined her friendship but the movie’s central theme, along with romance, is being true to themselves. In the case of Bo-ra, she finds herself in a tricky situation. Tell her best friend how she feels about the person she has a crush on or completely remove herself from the situation. It’s difficult, and as the audience can see that she struggles to do both of them.
The filmmakers behind this movie are brilliant at bringing back nostalgia. From pagers to cellphones and computers, the year 1999 seems so far away from now! 20th Century Girl is a familiar story that dives into the awkwardness of teen romance. A coming-of-age that deals with love, loss, and being true to themselves. The best part is that the friendship between Bo-ra and Yeon-du is genuine. However, apart from the themes explored, there isn’t much that is groundbreaking about the movie. Over the past year, Korean dramas, such as Our Beloved Summer and Twenty-Five, Twenty-One have explored romance and nostalgia. It is still a good movie to watch if you want to watch a cliched coming-of-age romance.
