Lede

A restrained teen romance can still fill seats in Seoul, while the UK has trained itself to stay home and call that “choice”.

Hermit Off Script

This film got under my skin because it was beautiful, sad, and annoyingly honest. I watched Even if This Love Disappears from the World Tonight in Seoul, and the cinema was rammed – hundreds of young people choosing to sit together and feel something, properly, without hiding behind irony. Then I think about Birmingham, where I go for films like that, and there are a few people scattered like abandoned coats. And it made me wonder what would happen in the UK if there is no kissing until the end of the movie, or even further than that, when the West acts like being “open” means you have to rush the physical side from early ages. What hit me is how restrained it felt: holding hands, a kiss towards the end, a tragic ending, and a focus on emotions and inner feeling – love as something more than being together or sharing intimacy. Just pure love without constant touch. That is probably hard to comprehend in a world where the material side shouts louder than the inner side. And yes, I am not pretending Korean teenagers are innocent angels when the internet is wide open, but the message was clear to teenagers. I was genuinely happy to see so many of them embrace the deeper side of love rather than a shallow physical checklist, especially because the ending basically says that “more than that” wouldn’t save you anyway. And maybe that is the point: Western cinema is not just competing with Korea – it is competing with streaming, where teenagers still cheer this stuff, just from their sofa, in series, in clips, in comments, in private.

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P.S. If Western cinemas feel emptier, it might not be because romance got worse – it is because streaming got easier. Teenagers still cheer this kind of tender, tragic love, they just do it in comment sections, reaction clips, and bingeable series at home, where the popcorn is cheaper and nobody judges them for crying.

Even If This Love Disappears From The World Tonight (2025) | 오늘 밤, 세계에서 이 사랑이 사라진다 해도 | Movie Trailer

Roast synopsis: Even if This Love Disappears from the World Tonight (2025)

A teen romance with a nasty little mechanic: Seo-yoon loses her memory every day, so love is not a slow build – it is a daily rebuild. Jae-won does not get to coast on “we’ve been through so much together”. He has to show up, again and again, and carry the tenderness for two people when one of them wakes up reset to factory settings. The film turns first love into a repeating appointment with fate: meet, connect, lose, repeat – and somehow make it feel new without turning it cheap.

The roast is that modern romance usually wants proof by escalation – more touch, more heat, more drama – like feelings are only real if they are shouted and filmed in close-up. This story does the opposite. It treats love like sensory memory and choice, not possession. It starts as a cute, bright romance and then pivots into the kind of tear-stained realism that quietly says: even if you win the kiss, you still might lose the world. If you want fireworks every ten minutes, you will call it “slow”. If you have a heart, you will call it honest.

Cast and credits

Director: Kim Hye-young
Based on the novel by: Misaki Ichijo (2020)
Main cast: Choo Young-woo (Jae-won), Shin Si-a (Seo-yoon), Jin Ho-eun, Jo Yoo-jung
Production company/studio: BY4M Studio
Distributor: BY4M Studio
Runtime: 106 minutes
Release: 24 December 2025 (South Korea, theatrical)

What does not make sense

• The UK calls cinema “a night out”, then prices it and schedules it like a punishment.
• We say teens are “always online”, then act surprised they do not turn up for slow, quiet stories.
• Korea can still pack a romance screening, yet its overall admissions are still far below pre-pandemic highs.
• The West sells “openness” as maturity, then flinches at tenderness that does not sprint to skin.
• Everyone claims to want “real love”, but most platforms only reward escalation and noise.

Sense check / The numbers

1. UK cinema admissions were 126.5 million in 2024, still 28 per cent below 2019 (176 million). [BFI]
2. South Korea recorded 123.13 million moviegoers in 2024, about 54 per cent of its 2019 level (226.68 million). [KOFIC]
3. Two-thirds of UK households subscribe to at least one major streaming service, with Netflix in almost six in ten UK households (and nearly half of total SVoD viewing in 2024). [Ofcom]
4. Ofcom-linked evidence says 68 per cent of teenagers say streaming is the main way they watch programmes and films. [UK Parliament]
5. The film was released theatrically in South Korea on 24 December 2025, and its premise is a daily memory-reset romance; the earlier 2022 Japanese film adaptation drew about 1.21 million admissions in Korea. [Soompi] [The Korea Times]

The sketch

Scene 1: Seoul, The Shared Scream
Panel description: Packed rows. A glowing heart on the screen. Popcorn tubs like tiny altars.
Dialogue:
Teen: “Shh. This bit matters.”
Friend: “I know. That is why I’m here.”
Scene 2: Birmingham, The Empty Echo
Panel description: Wide empty seats. One viewer lit by a phone. The screen waits like a disappointed teacher.
Dialogue:
Viewer: “I’ll watch it later.”
Cinema screen: “Later never buys a ticket.”
Scene 3: The Algorithm’s Date Night
Panel description: A streaming app in a suit, offering “Next Episode” like a ring. A cinema holds a torn ticket stub.
Dialogue:
Streaming app: “Commitment? Try autoplay.”
Cinema: “Try showing up.”

What to watch, not the show

• Streaming convenience beats civic habit: home wins by default.
• Franchises hoover screens and marketing oxygen, leaving romances to fight for crumbs.
• Teen attention is not dead – it is redistributed into series culture and social proof.
• “Openness” got confused with speed, and speed kills tenderness.
• Cinema survives on events and community, not just content.

The Hermit take

If a late kiss feels “slow”, you are not busy – you are numb.
Seoul still practises attention; the UK keeps outsourcing it.

Keep or toss

Keep / Toss
Keep the restraint and the emotional discipline.
Toss the Western habit of treating sincerity like an optional extra you can stream “someday”.

Sources

• BFI – Official BFI statistics for 2024:
  https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/official-bfi-statistics-2024
• KOFIC – 2024 moviegoers vs 2019 (KOFIC news):
  https://kofic.org/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=6237
• Ofcom – Media Nations 2025: UK report (PDF):
  https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/multi-sector/media-nations/2025/media-nations-2025-uk-report.pdf
• UK Parliament – Written evidence citing Ofcom teen streaming figure:
  https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/148726/html/
• Soompi – Premiere date and synopsis (Nov 25, 2025):
  https://www.soompi.com/article/1800400wpp/watch-choo-young-woo-and-shin-sias-new-romance-film-confirms-premiere-date-with-first-poster-and-teaser
• Soompi – Leads confirmed and 1.21 million Korean admissions note (Jul 2, 2025):
  https://www.soompi.com/article/1756710wpp/choo-young-woo-and-shin-si-ah-confirmed-to-star-in-korean-remake-of-even-if-this-love-disappears-from-the-world-tonight
• The Korea Times – Background and premise (Dec 22, 2025):
  https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/films/20251222/even-if-this-love-disappears-from-the-world-tonight-shows-romance-building-daily-despite-memory-loss
• IMDb – Title page:
  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39049192/
• AsianWiki – Film profile (runtime and release date listing):
  https://asianwiki.com/Even_if_This_Love_Disappears_from_the_World_Tonight_%28Korean_Movie%29