Arquitetura 101

Actors were amazing. But one thing above all that made this movie so realistic and relatable is the little details. The broken door, the Geuss, the cd player. Made me look back in my life and I found many similar. That's just the director's brilliance Oh I almost forgot. The house they built on the island has such an elegant design, I will use it as a reference when I build mine💯

I love this movie. It's been a while since I watched a movie that I would bother to make comment on. The story is very mediocre, however, it depicts the reality, and more importantly, humanism. It seriously reminded me of my first love that I met a year ago. It's definitely worth watching. I loved it! In addition, I liked the chemistry between the actors and actresses. The characters in the movie matched well with the actual actors and actresses. Suzi was great in this movie...ah....During these days, a lot movies tend to over-exaggerate what love truly is. But this movie gave the audience what true love should be based on humanism.

After so many years, I feel it is necessary to point out for most audience, especially from the West, that the object of pursuit in contemporary Asian tales about "first love", is NOT "love", at least not in the way you understand that term. In fact, it is usually an aspiration, or idealism. Something one has when one is young, and which has since been suppressed, or lost.

Viewed in that light, I hope it is easier to understand the protagonists' motives and actions. The drama comes abundantly in showcasing all the insecurities about social-economic status, peer pressure, sex and more, that one is willing to endure so long as one believes the objective is just around the corner. They end up haunting us for far longer than we want to admit.

Architecture 101 picks an axe to grind. It does so at a sure and steady pace. All along we have just been groping in the dark. We still are. In the end, the only consolation is that we know we miss each other, and the aspirations. We know we missed. We need to let more light into the house.

If you are a male or female who has ever had a childhood crush, this story is too familiar. Architecture 101 will take you through a painful, realistic, and gut-wrenching memoir of growing up next to the childhood love of your life - those best days of your life. However, I have just one major gripe that ruined the movie for me.

The acting and dialogue are candid, the cinematography beautiful, and the tragic moments are (in the Korean dramatic fashion) unapologetically tragic. It is not the type of movie to make you cry outright, but it will make you breathe quickly and feel a deep, naive longing. The thing that ruined the movie for me is this: in one of the scenes, a drunk girl is presumably taken advantage of while a boy who is watching not only does nothing to confront the aggressor, but leaves the scene and cries about his misfortunes of liking her with one of his friends, who consequently calls her worse than a w****. Doesn't that make you cringe? It's appalling how this scene isn't rectified; if it had been, Architecture 101 would be one of my favorite movies. Otherwise, it makes me uncomfortable to recommend something that advertises such a cowardly and misogynistic action. So if you feel like there was maybe a little something off about that scene, please know that you are not alone.

Would-be 8/10, but marked down for the reasons above.

And for the would-be haters, I am a 19 y.o. male (not that it makes a difference to my review).

6/10

Architecture 101 is a restrained romance film that just delivers on an emotional level. Subtle & pure, as the movie progresses the storyline becomes more interesting, characters become imitateley more personal and you become completely vested in their story. Certain picturesque moments in the film will undoubtably find a permanent home in your memories.