This Korean teen romance is a sweet story with characters that are very hard not to like. Kim Yoo-jung lights up the screen in 20th Century Girl as an independent and strong-minded teenager with a generous heart. She and co-stars Byeon Woo-seok and Park Jung-woo are totally believable as high schoolers discovering life, love, and loss. They're also funny and prone to exaggeration, infusing the film with moments of both comedy and melodrama.
Set in 1999 -- captured in first email accounts, pagers, baggy clothes, girl bands, and Y2K worries -- the period carries a whiff of innocence. The South Korean location, filmed in shades of green and yellow, couches the characters in a safe and gentle setting, allowing them to focus solely on matters of the heart. Spoiler alert: the unexpected ending is a tearjerker.
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Images courtesy of Netflix.