“New Year Blues”, the highly anticipated year-end movie for 2020, was initially slated for a 30 Dec 2020 release date to align with the ‘New Year’ theme. Unfortunately, the movie release date had been delayed due to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Korea last year-end. As a result, the movie was only released in both Singapore and South Korea from 11 February – making it just in time for a Lunar New Year/ Valentine’s Day movie!
When I first read the synopsis and watched the trailer, it gave me somewhat similar vibes as the 2011’s New Year’s Eve and 2010’s Valentine’s Day movie – both rom-coms featuring lives of couples leading up to the New Year/ Valentine’s Day.
It was pretty refreshing to be able to watch Korea’s rendition of it, which featured a spectacular star-studded cast list including Kim Kang Woo, Yoo In Na, Yoo Yeon Seok, Lee Yeon Hee, Lee Dong Hwi, Chen Du Ling, Yeom Hye Ran, Girls’ Generation’s Choi Soo Young and Yoo Teo.
I shall not go into the details of the story (as it would be a spoiler) but in simple words – it is a pretty lighthearted movie, capable of making you relate to it somehow. It touched on many small but important aspects of life, covering stories with themes relating to breakups, loneliness, healing, multicultural-marriage, and also the search for life’s meaning. The simple everyday moments definitely makes it relatable and could possibly make you feel reflective as well.
Another aspect of the film which I truly enjoyed was that I could re-live the travel memories while watching the film. Being travel-deprived for the past one year, watching scenes and locations of Seoul on the big screen (with Namsan Tower in the background) definitely brought some warmth to my heart and reminded me how much I wished I was there. There was another story with a ski field setting and it reminded me of snow and my skiing experiences. Furthermore, the cast even flew to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina for the movie! There were many beautiful destinations featured, including the famous and majestic Iguazu Falls. I’m not sure about you but it felt really good to enjoy ‘traveling’ while watching a movie.
Whether you are a rom-com fan or someone looking for a feel-good movie, this is definitely a good pick and the eye candies are really pretty too!
Korean movie “New Year Blues” (새해전야) opens in Singapore cinemas on 11 February 2021.
Article by: Jiayu @ KAvenyou
