A bittersweet teen romance with strong nostalgia, sincere emotion, and a late-story gut punch that clearly lands with audiences. It’s especially appealing if you like coming-of-age love stories that start light and end in heartbreak.
20th Century Girl
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Romance · Drama
Thu · 1h 59m
Director: Bang Woo-ri
Starring: Kim You-jung, Byeon Woo-seok, Park Jung-woo
Overview
In 1999, a teen girl keeps close tabs on a boy in school on behalf of her deeply smitten best friend – then she gets swept up in a love story of her own.
Director
Bang Woo-ri
Cast
Kim You-jung, Byeon Woo-seok, Park Jung-woo
Curator Review
Verdict
A bittersweet teen romance with strong nostalgia, sincere emotion, and a late-story gut punch that clearly lands with audiences. It’s especially appealing if you like coming-of-age love stories that start light and end in heartbreak.
Best for
fans of wistful coming-of-age romances
viewers who like 90s nostalgia and school-era crush stories
audiences who enjoy emotional, tearjerker endings
people who prefer tender, character-driven romance over plot-heavy drama
Skip if
you want a purely fluffy rom-com
you dislike melodramatic turns or tragic romance
you prefer adult relationships over teen-centered stories
you’re not in the mood for a movie designed to make you cry
Overview
20th Century Girl begins like a sweet time-capsule romance and gradually reveals itself as something much more painful. The late-1990s setting is used with real affection, giving the film a warm analog texture that makes every small gesture feel vivid and remembered rather than merely recreated.
Worth noting
What makes it work is the emotional shift: the movie understands the intensity of first love, friendship, and the way teenage certainty can be undone by time. It leans into familiar romance beats, but the performances keep them grounded, and the final stretch lands because the film has earned its tenderness.
Bottom line
This is the kind of romance that invites you in with charm and then leaves you wrecked. If you like your love stories to feel nostalgic, sincere, and a little cruel, it delivers exactly that.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Jo (5★) · 8214 likes
that was such a great movie i want to kill myself now
niesrinn <3 (5★) · 8150 likes
i hate this movie. i just wanted a fun, light hearted romance so i could giggle into my pillow and kick up my feet so why am i fucking bawling my eyes out?? im in agony. im sitting here in my dirty ass room with snot running out of my nose and tears falling out of my eye. who did this? who the fuck wrote this and thought it was okay to market it to me like a movie that
macy (5★) · 3918 likes
never trust those silly movies and tv shows who pass round the 90s they hurt the most.
nabi (4.5★) · 3617 likes
you know what hurts me the most? when woonho's letter to bora, will never be read it