Love Next Door movie review.

A boy finally summoned the courage to confess his love to his childhood friend, but she was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer. Did his love scale through?

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Jung Hae-in who played as Choi Seung-hyo was a top architect in Korea and Baek Seok-ryu(Jung So-min), a high-flyer who lived abroad, were childhood friends. Seung-hyo’s parents were affluent but busy and often left him with Seok-ryu’s parents.
Seok-ryu’s parents were middle class but took care of Seung-hyo like he was their own, their moms were childhood friends also.

Seung-hyo had always been the calm, reserved type but he indicated a possible disconnect in character development when he was seven (7) due to lack of motherly love. Whereas, Seok-ryu was the outspoken type who was always there for Seung-hyo to cheer him on. Their houses were close by, but Seung-hyo stayed at Seok-ryu’s place most of the time, they went to the same school and did virtually everything together.

As the movie progressed, Seok-ryu moved overseas and worked at a global conglomerate named Greip—a prestigious company while Seung-hyo became a well-known and successful architect in South-Korea.
Years later, Seok-ryu returned to South Korea with no job and a broken engagement, her mother who had bragged so much about her daughter’s wedding preparations and how she was doing so well overseas, was surprised to see her daughter back with almost nothing. Seok-ryu's mom was disappointed in her, she feared her daughter might end up living a middle-class life like hers, but Seok-ryu tried to ignore the backlash from her mother as she tried to put back pieces of her life together.

Soon, Seung-hyo discovered that his childhood friend was back, Seok-ryu kept lying about the reasons she was back home, but Seung-hyo could perceive that she was lying.
Their journey overtime rekindled, from platonic relationship to a romantic connection. However Seung-hyo later discovered by chance that Seok-ryu was diagnosed with cancer while she was overseas and 70% of her stomach was gone which was also the reason why her engagement was called off. Seung-hyo was devastated alongside her family, but did love really conquer all? Did Seung-hyo's love for her still remain unwavering?

I want to praise and appreciate how balanced this series was throughout. You could be crying this minute and laughing at silly lines the next minute, lol. There are scenes that will make you feel butterflies too!!
All supporting characters were developed (which a lot of movies lack), it added seasoning to the series.
This series delves into themes of family, love and the silent battles individuals face.

I felt honored to see Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min grace my screen.
Love next door is an Absolute must-see, available to stream on Netflix.

4.5/5