This review may contain spoilers
In the Year of Our Lord 2026????????????
It makes SO much sense to me that this is adapted from a novel that was released in 2009 because everything about this story felt extremely dated, all the way down to the incredibly tacky (putting it mildly) mid-credits scene featuring the main characters in Native American cosplay (no, that is not a joke).
Gyeong-rok literally falls in love with Mi-jeong because she's "not like other girls," like come onnnnn. Sure, he did a fine job in conveying that what he felt was genuine, but unfortunately the leads didn't have enough chemistry to make the slow burn feel worth it at all.
This movie also has nothing grounding it to Korean society or even a specific era (they just speak Korean and use smartphones, that's it), so while you could say it gives it a timeless quality that anyone can relate to, I found that it made the story even more bland and divorced from reality. It felt like it could have been made by anyone with any combination of actors, so it makes you wonder what the point is.
Another huge problem I had is that all the characters are incredibly shallow in their development, only getting vague references to their backgrounds, so your brain has to work overtime to fill in the blanks of these hollow shells of people. The stuff with Gyeong-rok's dad? Doesn't matter. His motivation for going to dance school? Also doesn't matter. Why does Mi-jeong live such a harrowing life to the point that she doesn't have a phone? Who knows? What's Yo-han's whole deal, and how did he even manage to get out of his depressive funk at the end? Couldn't tell you, although the movie seems to strangely imply that it's thanks to the
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major character death that happens????
The ending is predictable and would be emotionally manipulative if the movie was able to make me feel anything at all. The only points I give it are for Moon Sangmin's face and the fact that the fake-out bit at the end where they threw in the ULTIMATE Kdrama cliche (iykyk) made me genuinely laugh until I was out of breath.
Gyeong-rok literally falls in love with Mi-jeong because she's "not like other girls," like come onnnnn. Sure, he did a fine job in conveying that what he felt was genuine, but unfortunately the leads didn't have enough chemistry to make the slow burn feel worth it at all.
This movie also has nothing grounding it to Korean society or even a specific era (they just speak Korean and use smartphones, that's it), so while you could say it gives it a timeless quality that anyone can relate to, I found that it made the story even more bland and divorced from reality. It felt like it could have been made by anyone with any combination of actors, so it makes you wonder what the point is.
Another huge problem I had is that all the characters are incredibly shallow in their development, only getting vague references to their backgrounds, so your brain has to work overtime to fill in the blanks of these hollow shells of people. The stuff with Gyeong-rok's dad? Doesn't matter. His motivation for going to dance school? Also doesn't matter. Why does Mi-jeong live such a harrowing life to the point that she doesn't have a phone? Who knows? What's Yo-han's whole deal, and how did he even manage to get out of his depressive funk at the end? Couldn't tell you, although the movie seems to strangely imply that it's thanks to the
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*
major character death that happens????
The ending is predictable and would be emotionally manipulative if the movie was able to make me feel anything at all. The only points I give it are for Moon Sangmin's face and the fact that the fake-out bit at the end where they threw in the ULTIMATE Kdrama cliche (iykyk) made me genuinely laugh until I was out of breath.
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