Netflix banks on '90s nostalgia with 'Love Untangled'

Festival favorite Namkoong Sun brings her indie sensibility to streaming giant's Korean slate

From left: Gong Myung, Shin Eun-soo, director Namkoong Sun, Cha Woo-min and Yoon Sang-hyeon at "Love Untangled" production briefing in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)

With seven Korean features in its 2025 pipeline, Netflix is betting big on local content as multiplexes continue to hemorrhage audiences. This time, the platform mines Generation X nostalgia with a high school romance.

At Monday's production briefing for "Love Untangled" at a hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul, the streaming giant showcased its latest crowd-pleaser — a teen rom-com set in 1998 that marks an intriguing pivot for both the platform and the filmmaker.

The film follows 19-year-old Park Se-ri (Shin Eun-soo), whose hopelessly frizzy hair becomes the catalyst for a confession campaign aimed at school heartthrob Kim Hyun (Cha Woo-min). Enter transfer student Han Yoon-seok (Gong Myung), whose mother happens to run the only salon in Busan that offers cutting-edge straightening treatments.

For director Namkoong Sun, fresh off her hat trick at last year's Jeonju International Film Festival with indie gem "Time to Be Strong" — a sobering look at former K-pop idols grappling with trauma — the shift to bubbly high-teen romance for Netflix represents both departure and homecoming.

"I was actually in high school in 1998," she told reporters. "Like Yoon-seok, I myself took a gap year. That weird optimism of the era, when first-gen K-pop groups were just taking off and everything felt possible for young people — I wanted to capture that energy."

The protagonist's unruly hair is more than a plot device, she explained. "It's really about that teenage torture over stuff you can't control. Do you actually have to change who you are? Se-ri's hair is basically every teenager dealing with not being good enough — at least according to everyone else."

"Love Untangled" starring Gong Myung (left) and Shin Eun-soo (Netflix)

Shin Eun-soo, who memorized the entire script while perfecting her Busan dialect, described her character as "basically pure positive energy — the kind of person who just makes you feel good being around them." The "Light Shop" actress worked with dialect coaches multiple times a week and recorded herself running lines, a dedication that caught co-star Gong Myung's attention. "She had the whole thing down cold — every beat, every line," he said.

Gong, riding high from recent turns in Tving's "Way Back Love" and Netflix's action noir "Mercy for None," laughed off the challenge of playing yet another high schooler at 31. "People say I look more like a teacher than a student," he said. "But I'm leaning into it now. I wish I could be remembered as everyone's go-to first love this year."

The production committed fully to period detail, from those pocket-sized beepers and bulky camcorders to retro hairstyles and oversized uniforms. "Fashion really does come full circle," noted Shin, who was born in 2002. "Those baggy looks we wore are basically what's trending now."

"Love Untangled" drops on Netflix Friday.