Thank you for the recap, dramaddictally!

I really enjoyed this movie, for all the reasons you've mentioned. It is a sweet look at first love.

I was like all the characters in this movie, I fell for Bora! She was just so lovely, energetic, innocent and cute. Kim Yoo-Jung really made this character shine.

Now, I'm not sure to understand what the present meant for this story. First love is bittersweet, painful, must stay in the past? Or if you're not honest with your feeling in the present, you will regret for your whole life?

I found it boring, flat and obvious. I stopped him after less than 30 minutes, despite the affection I have for KYJ.

The whole movie is heartfelt thanks to Kim Yoo Jung who make this movie work. Imo. The camera clearly love her since all the character fells just like a supporting charactee, She is just so nuance delivering the emotion is just more heartbreaking. And i cried when the scene involving with her best friend goes into klimaks.

It was a cute watch. I hadn't watched dramas with Byun Woo-seok in it, I love it when I discover a new flower boy actor who doesn't make me cringe when they deliver their lines. Kim Yoo jung was absolutely adorable and portrayed her character well. The second leads were annoying but that was the scripts fault.
The ending left me me with a question as whether the ml was depressed. It bit random if you'd ask me, felt a bit rushed.
All in all I wouldn't say it was a waste of time but it was definitely a waste of potential.

I did not sign up for that ending.

@dramaddictally thanks for the weecap. I think because I picked up a hint from people’s comments that something sad happened I was prepared so I enjoyed the whole film for what it was. I agree that it was unrealistic that the information didn’t come through sooner.

Was the person who put on the art exhibition his brother? I am sure I heard hyeong a couple of times but it wasn’t included in the subtitles. If he got the address all these years later to send the video surely someone else could have used it before to update on the situation. The exhibition was beautiful and I loved the video he had put together which she finally got to watch at the end.
Lead actress definitely nailed her part. I liked the story but agree the current day could have been better or not included at all and ended with them getting ready for university with all the joy of their expectations for a brighter future.

This was heartwarming, some scenes had me blushing and smiling. Didn't expect to tear up in the end, though I don't think the separation by death was all that necessary.

I liked all the characters and acting was decent enough. The highlight of the movie was ofcourse Kim Yoo Jung, who was positively radiant in this!

I can understand why opinions on this movie are polarising. I think the problem may be that it lacked an overall thematic vision - it was about female friendship, until it wasn't, and by the time the 21st century motif came around, it's difficult to tell what they were intending with it.
But they say that if something resonates with you, if you take something away from it, then it's good, and I found meaning in this film that made the whole experience feel beautiful. I'm justifying the somewhat unexpected ending in two ways:
1) Thanks to the film's subtle foreshadowing, I wasn't bowled over by the reveal. At the beginning of the film, Yeon-du went abroad and, honestly, who expected her to come back alive? So when she did, I kinda felt like we'd cheated death. Except Woon-ho then went abroad, and died instead. It was a quiet little subversion of expectations that I don't think was overally manipulative.
2) What I liked about the ending (even if the reason for Woon-ho's death was never explained) is that it created a sense of closure. A lot of people never get to find out what happened to the people that dissappeared from their lives, and Bo-ra at least gets to know what happened to her first love. Moreover, the fact that he died of all things (instead of his feelings for her going cold or whatever) preserves the beauty of their love story. It gets to stay beautiful forever.
A lot of people who watched this movie are very upset about the lack of happy ending, but to me, this film feels like it's following the traditions of Korean romance films from The Classic to Unforgettable - telling love stories that are beautiful because they are fleeting.

If only I had looked up the ending of this film on Google, as I usually do, I would have been spared a few tears.

I could have come to terms with Woon-ho's fate, but what really got me down was that Bo-ra couldn't find closure for years and thought of her first love with bitterness. So many wasted years.

the way i was STRUGGLING to contain my sobs as I finished this movie at 12.45am and everyone was asleep.

despite knowing that kmovies will always rip your heart out, I still enjoy watching them as they are simply beautiful (kmovies >>>>>>>>> American movies)

I personally felt, him leaving to NZ for good would have sufficed. That is a bitter ending for a young adult who is in love.
The logical part of me went his friend Baek Hyun-Jin would have known because he would have had a way to contact him.. phone/letters. But also, people disappeared from our lives in the 90's. When internet was just starting to be there.
The story upto that point was lovely, and to be honest, I wanted to know what happened to Baek Hyun Jin and the girlfriend.

I completely missed the warning signs and had to walk away 15 mins before the end, take a couple of hours, and come back to finish. It was sad. I was not prepared. The exhibition at the end and the conversation with the little brother made it even sadder. What a twist. I'm not sure I'd have watched it had I known.

I think the movie is pretty good. It’s a beautiful story to me despite the sad ending..

But I somehow could guess that something would happen in the end.. Kmovies tend to go for the forgettable route instead of the ordinary HEA one.

Upon watching, I felt like this is another 2521. Many things are similar: First love, friends, high school, major life decisions, unrequited love, passionate love, friend quarrels, sincere friendship, not getting together with your first love, etc. That was why I couldn’t shake the picture of Na Hee-do out of my head when before me was Kim Yoo-jung. The latter is cute in this, but because I couldn’t help comparing between the two, I felt like the actress who played Na Hee-do in 2521 is far superior in terms of acting than the current KYJ. So instead of focusing on the FL, I was focused more on the ML and his guy friend. I think both did an excellent job and I loved both of them in this one. I didn’t like the FL’s girlfriend as a character much in the beginning, but I came to like her more near the end.

As much as I think the story ends in a pretty abrupt way, I’m pretty forgiving in this case. I kinda like the way the movie doesn’t tell us directly how Woo-ha died or what the cause of death was because I felt like it was intentional. We don’t really know how some people we used to love so much disappeared from our lives, or why things happened the way they did. This is intentionally left obscure for viewers to make us relate better to what happened in our lives in our memories, I think.

what's wrong with 90s kdrama giving us a great project just to make us cry at the end? The whole time I hope it's not like 25-21 but it ended up the exact same. Great first love youth story with promising actors where it was the first time watching them and then boom a sad ending + no future updates on anyone other than the FL.

Today I watched this movie, and it was a great movie capturing the feelings of first love and highschool friendship. The ending had me bawling my eyes out, because all of those years Bo Ra waited not knowing what happened to Woon Ho. Such first love stories tug my heart and it just is so sad.

The movie took me back to the simple life of 90's, the cassettes, payphone booth, pagers, retro style set with a tinted tone and gorgeous cinematography, made the movie more aesthetically beautiful to watch.

RATING : 9/10

Loved this movie!! I wish the lead girl had tears coming out of her eyes when she cries.

Thanks for the recap. The romance was fantastic, but the ending was so diappointing....what was that?

I got a strong premonition after the twist that now there was going to be just too much noble idiocy, and I jumped to watch the end and it was even worse.
I'm glad your review comfirms my suspicions, and I wish I had read it before starting to watch.