Drama Review: 'Record of Youth' (2020)
This drama is included in the list of nominees for the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards
Korean Title: 청춘기록
English Title: Record of Youth
Network: tvN (Korea), Netflix (Global)
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Period: September 7 - October 27, 2020
Genre: Slice of Life, Coming of Age
Language(s): Korean
Cast: Park Bo Gum (Encounter), Park So Dam (Parasite), Byun Woo Seok (Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency)
Directed by: Ahn Gil Ho (Memories of the Alhambra)
Written by: Ha Myung Hee (Temperature of Love)
Record of Youth is a coming-of-age drama about three friends in their late twenties working in the fashion and entertainment industry. The story mainly revolves around the struggles and aspirations of Sa Hye Jun (Park Bo Gum) and the lessons he learns from existing and new relationships he forges while chasing his dreams.
The 16-episode mini-series aired on cable channel, tvN from September to October 2020 and distributed globally by Netflix. Record of Youth was produced by Studio Dragon and led the viewership ratings chart while it was airing. Further, Writer Ha Myung Hee was nominated for the Best TV Screenplay Award at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards in 2021.
Story
Sa Hye Jun (Park Bo Gum) and Won Hae Hyo (Byun Woo Seok) share the same aspirations of becoming famous model-turned-actors and have been best friends since their elementary school days. Their families live in Hannam-dong, the infamous neighborhood in Seoul housing some of South Korea’s most affluent residential areas such as: UN Village and The Hill. But there’s a catch: the Hannam-dong rich-kid stereotype doesn’t apply to Hye Jun. Being born in a middle class family, Hye Jun’s family lives in the not-so-posh area of Hannam-dong and barely makes ends meet.
Although their backgrounds are immensely different from each other, Hye Jun and Hae Hyo participate in print ads and walk in fashion shows together. Hye Jun is represented by Lee Tae Su (Lee Chang Hoon), a struggling talent agency CEO, and has worked for him without pay for the past seven years. Outside of both their modeling jobs, Hae Hyo is represented by his mom (Shin Ae Ra) and able to book additional commercial and acting gigs due to his massive popularity on social media.
Unfortunately for Hye Jun, not having gone to college in his early twenties (because his parents could only afford to send one son to college), he spends his model off-duty time working multiple part-time jobs to financially support himself and his dreams. Given the fact that he’s nearing his thirties, Hye Jun struggles with the decision of enlisting for the mandatory South Korean army service or postponing it further in pursuit of his big acting break. Not to mention, his family is starting to urge him to wake up to reality, give up on becoming an actor, serve in the army and secure a normal job after failing repeatedly for the past seven years.
At the same time, we have Ahn Jeong Ha (Park So Dam) who have dreams of launching her own hair and make-up studio. Since quitting her corporate job, Jeong Ha works as a Designer In-Training at a famous salon frequented by rich people and celebrities, including Hae Hyo’s mom, Kim Yi Young. When she’s not working at the salon, Jeong Ha maintains a YouTube channel featuring make-up and skincare tips as well as busking videos. She is also one of Hye Jun’s biggest fans, having followed every single one of his gigs as a model.
Jeong Ha becomes friends with Hye Jun and Hae Hyo after the salon sends her to help with hair and make-up for one of the fashion shows they are walking for. While chasing their dreams, the three of them bond through the battles and struggles brought upon by friends, family, work and their own selves.
The Review
If you ask me what the hardest thing is when it comes to writing these reviews, it is without a doubt, coming up with the extended story summaries. Regardless of how great or terrible the overall experience was with a show, it’s always a challenge simplifying drama plots without spoiling critical details (or in the case of bad ones- not get emotionally carried away and summarize the drama with disappointment bias) . Having said that, the story summary for Record of Youth above was probably one of the easiest ones I’ve ever had to write on this blog and with a darn good reason - this show is incredibly simple yet so crisp and clean.
Looking at Hae Na makes me think time is fair. I thought I was the only one getting old, but she’s getting old too. How can time be the only fair thing in this world?
Reality has been hitting me hard these days…
— Sa Hye Jun to Won Hae Hyo
Hye Jun shares the same age, school, neighbourhood, friends, and job with Hae Hyo but he somehow always gets the shorter end of the stick and things don’t work out as well for him as they do for Hae Hyo. But despite how unfortunate the past seven years have been to his career, the most important thing about the scene is how unresentful Hye Jun is towards Hae Hyo. In the same token, Hae Hyo sympathizes with Hye Jun in a way that almost suggests he understands how Hye Jun feels (thinking that Hye Jun was making a mere statement about their age and time in general) - even though he clearly does not.
Said between childhood best friends, the line above from Episode 1 establishes the main point of the show right at the onset - and mind you, without much drama or theatrics. No matter how unbothered he seems while talking about it, all of Hye Jun’s worries and insecurities as he compares himself to his seemingly more successful best friend can be seen by viewers through that single scene alone.
I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.
— Nikos Kazantzakis from Zorba the Greek
Among the many lessons in Record of Youth, the one I wanted to touch on in this review is how well it portrays the essence of the quote above by Nikos Kazantzakis (mentioned multiple times in the show). Once the harsh realities of life start hitting you, it’s easy to spring to action - whether that’s giving up on your “childish” dreams to get a “big boy/girl job” or biting the bullet and continuing to believe that there’s some method to all the madness. Whatever the case may be, we’re all just chasing happiness.
But the funniest thing about humans and their pursuit of happiness as it’s portrayed in Record of Youth is, most times, we’re looking way too far and hard for something that may have already been in front of us all this time. When we’re young, we’re always itching to get older because we always search for our happiness as though it’s something that only exists in the future. However, every time the characters reminisced their “younger” days, the scenes would always be coloured as though they’re being seen through rose-coloured glasses, implying that ultimately, those times in the past might have been the happiest they’ve had - they just never recognized it.
The main reason why I enjoy watching slice-of-life dramas like Record of Youth is because there’s a specific type of directing vision required to make shows such as this one entertaining to watch. The slice-of-life genre doesn’t rely on flashy clothes, intense action scenes, superhuman powers or bizarre events to keep the viewers hooked. Instead, it’s a game that rewards points based on how well it can emulate emotions that people deal with on a lifetime basis (whether they’re aware of it or not) - and this show was very good at doing that in the most natural of ways.
The Verdict
Overall Rating: 8/10
One of the things Record of Youth excels in is in its ability to effortlessly portray the roller-coaster ride of confusion and emotions that young adults go through while growing up and forging their own paths.
I’m not going to lie though, with the trajectory of the show, I was disappointed with the usage of noble idiocy during the second last week and hoped for a little bit more finesse in the product placement scenes. But nonetheless, thanks to the snappy scriptwriting and incredible execution by the directing and acting staff, Record of Youth was fantastic at showing realistic, one-percent-a-day progress and wins. That’s because similar to real life, if you compare how the characters end up in the last episode versus what they used to be, you realize that to the very core, Hye Jun, Hae Hyo and Jeong Ha are still the same - but they’ve definitely come a long way.
