This review may contain spoilers
Had good potential, but tried a little too hard
After seeing the wonderfully raved reviews, I let myself into the school romance arc again to give this a shot. Right away, I felt Our Times (Taiwanese movie) vibes, with the vintage school life and then the flash forward to present day with a different main lead cast.
The scenes between the main couple were not developed enough for me to feel anything towards their story. This is a typical love at first sight romance, which makes it even harder for us to feel. And although they looked cute together, the main guy had no personality. And the other guy? Felt like a completely random dude who was thrown in to have a cute trio effect. I also had trouble distinguishing the two men at one point.
Worst of all, some things didn't make sense to me. It was weird the friend called the main girl silly to mistaken the name of the guy she likes for his friend. So did the friend know his name was switched too or what? Cause it sure didn't seem like it. The friend and the conflict was more interesting than the entire romance plot. I would rather watch a movie about their interesting dynamic than this, in my opinion, because a main girl lying about her personality to her best friend the whole time doesn't sound very healthy.
And that ending! It was super out of the blue. I felt like the movie wanted to throw a angsty dramatic factor in for kicks, as if the train scene (1999 version of airport scene) wasn't enough. Not every movie needs to end in tragedy for it to be good, especially when it doesn't add anything to do so!
I think I get the direction the director was going towards, with the nostalgia for the 20th century, the youth, the common friendship problem, and the melo thought of what could have been in the next century. But, it was just done in a rather mediocre way that leads an empty confused place in viewers' hearts after watching.
The scenes between the main couple were not developed enough for me to feel anything towards their story. This is a typical love at first sight romance, which makes it even harder for us to feel. And although they looked cute together, the main guy had no personality. And the other guy? Felt like a completely random dude who was thrown in to have a cute trio effect. I also had trouble distinguishing the two men at one point.
Worst of all, some things didn't make sense to me. It was weird the friend called the main girl silly to mistaken the name of the guy she likes for his friend. So did the friend know his name was switched too or what? Cause it sure didn't seem like it. The friend and the conflict was more interesting than the entire romance plot. I would rather watch a movie about their interesting dynamic than this, in my opinion, because a main girl lying about her personality to her best friend the whole time doesn't sound very healthy.
And that ending! It was super out of the blue. I felt like the movie wanted to throw a angsty dramatic factor in for kicks, as if the train scene (1999 version of airport scene) wasn't enough. Not every movie needs to end in tragedy for it to be good, especially when it doesn't add anything to do so!
I think I get the direction the director was going towards, with the nostalgia for the 20th century, the youth, the common friendship problem, and the melo thought of what could have been in the next century. But, it was just done in a rather mediocre way that leads an empty confused place in viewers' hearts after watching.
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