Singapore, 2015 – The Korean Film Festival in Singapore 2015 has come to an end, and here’s our review on the movie “Twenty”! We were honoured to have one of the main lead actor for the film, Kang Ha Neul, watching the movie with fans on the 31^st of October as part of his meet and greet event in conjunction with the Korean Film Festival.

Kang Ha Neul started the event with an opening speech, “I hope all of you here from Singapore can receive much laughter like those who did in Korea”, and then proceeded to his seat. He sat among fans in the theatre, and the fans that surrounded him were thrilled to have the rising-star so closely seated next to them.

Twenty

Spoiler ahead!

Plot and character introduction:

Picture yourself at the age of twenty. Hopes, dreams, friendship, career, and maybe even romance might be your concerns. Well, being twenty myself, I can relate to the movie very well. You’re at the point in life where you have to choose the path to take, and that was the dilemma faced by the three main characters from this movie. Best friends Chi-Ho (played by Kim Woo Bin), Dong-Woo (played by 2PM’s Lee Junho), and Gyung-Jae (played by Kang Ha Neul) met through the most unlikely way: being classmates who fought for a chance to date a girl they all had a crush on at the same time. Chi-Ho, with a reckless character, offended Junho by touching their crush, So-Min’s (played by Jung So Min) chest. For high school boys, you might have expected the physical fight among them to settle the issue, but this is a comedy movie, of course they had to settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissors! What shocked Chi-Ho and Dong-woo was Gyung-Jae who unknowingly joined in the game by putting his hand out with a rock. That makes three suitors to one pretty girl, but Chi-Ho ultimately won the game and got the chance to date So-Min first out of the three of them.

Then again, Chi-Ho’s known for his playboy style, he may be attached but has no plans of just sticking to one woman. He has the looks and the money, but Chi-Ho’s otherwise known as a bum (no offence to the heart-throb actor though). No aspiring dreams, no interest for a career, Chi-Ho’s only goal in life was to keep breathing… And he did achieve that. Chi-Ho even chose to go on endless night clubbing trips over having a job at his family’s restaurant. Chi-Ho’s purpose in life is to have fun, and that includes having sexual encounters with women. What was supposed to be a flirtatious attempt turned into a car accident when Chi-Ho accidentally knocked down a lady on the street whom he was attracted to. The lady turns out to be a rookie actress (Eun-Hye, played by Jung Joo Yeon), who may seem quiet and reserved on the outside, but in actual, fiery on the inside. Chi-Ho agreed to be her pretence-manager for a few days as a method of settling the accident payment, and eventually falls for her and dates her (he’s still attached to So-Min at this point by the way). Chi-Ho finally tells So-Min how he feels about her, and breaks up with her. He loved Eun-Hye – it was evident from the way he spoke to her – and yet, she disappointed and broke Chi-Ho’s heart by revealing that she was dating a sugar-daddy.

Dong-Woo on the other hand, was an aspiring comic illustrator. Despite the talent he had, he ended up repeating his senior year in high school and juggling multiple part-time jobs in order to help his family to cope with the bankruptcy his father had landed himself into. Attending art classes with Gyung-Jae’s younger sister, So-Hee (played by Lee Yoo Bi), Dong-Woo was determined to realise his dreams. So-Hee adored him, often teasing him and even confessed to Dong-Woo with a back-hug! As his mother’s health deteriorated, Dong-Woo who was initially reluctant to work in a factory under his uncle’s business, gave up on his studies and dreams to work as a regular office employee. Among the three friends, Dong-Woo’s had it hardest, being the eldest in a family filled with children and had insufficient resources to pay for day-to-day expenses.

As for Gyung-Jae, he’s the nerd among the three of them. Studious and hard-working, Gyung-Jae has set his heart on prepping his college credentials to help him with his job-hunting in the business world. Unfortunately, at the student orientation dinner, Gyung-Jae had a little too much to drink and got infamous for his embarrassing acts of shouting and throwing up in front of the students. A senior of his, Jin-Joo (played by Min Hyo Rin), caught his eye and he fell in love with her, little to know that she was attached to a secret boyfriend who rarely contacted her. When Gyung-Jae found out about it, he concluded that she would soon fall for him since her secret boyfriend was rarely there for her. However, during a lecture, a lady barged into the class and gave Jin-Joo a slap, and that was the moment Gyung-Jae found out who Jin-Joo’s boyfriend was: her lecturer. She was a third-party to the relationship, and Gyung-Jae was just another broken hearted friend-zoned victim. With both So-Min and Gyung-Jae heartbroken, they came to hang out together more often than before to console one another, but Gyung-Jae’s confession that So-Min was his first love got the two of them together as a couple.

Review:

Three different “Slices of life” stories of three twenty year olds trying to fit into the adulthood, the hilarious acts that bind these stories together are more than mere body gags or sexual references. It’s a fun way to peep into the age of twenty through this movie, and heart-warming to see the bromance between these three male leads. Some of the wishful thinking and imagination from the three male characters may be ridiculous, but that’s the good entertainment essence to it that will throw you into a fit of hysterical laughter. It’s very similar to a situation comedy, with almost 70% of the comedy from the dialogues. Think nonsensical talks from three growing-up not-fully-matured men. The humour between their talks are very much relatable to Korean’s regular type of comedy in variety shows. This movie is essentially about teenagers moving towards adulthood and trying to learn from the mistakes they have made, while maintaining a positive vibe with the carefree and silly stuff that can only be done as a youth.

The movie ends off with all three of the characters doing well in the direction they chose to take; Chi-Ho learning to work on a film-set to fulfil his new goal to be a film director, Dong-Woo as a diligent employee of his uncle’s business while setting aside time after work for his comic illustrations, and Gyung-Jae who does pretty decently in his academic results. The boys even applied to serve military service together, showing off their true brotherhood. All in all, this movie will sure amuse you with the rich comical and humorous scenes, we promise!

Article by: Cherlyn