Once We Were Us

1. Synopsis

Eun-ho boards an express bus heading to his hometown, while Jeong-won, having decided to leave somewhere after taking a break from school, gets on as well. By chance, the two end up sitting next to each other and form an unexpected connection. Cheering on each other's dreams and leaning on one another, the two gradually seep into each other's daily lives and grow into lovers. They laugh, fight, and make up, loving each other passionately as if they own the whole world, but in the face of reality, they ultimately choose different paths. And then, ten years later, when they meet again, Eun-ho finally says the words he had kept buried for so long to Jeong-won.

2. Cast

• Koo Kyo-hwan as Lee Eun-ho
• Moon Ga-young as Han Jeong-won
• Shin Jung-geun as Eun-ho's father
• Lee Sang-yeob as Kang Min-jae
• Kim Seo-won as Park Seung-chan
• Im Jae-hyuk as Oh Gyeong-seok
• Kim So-yul as Go Yun-jin
• Kang Mal-geum as Eun-ho's mother

3. Production

3.1. Development

Director Kim Do-young revealed in an interview that the film is set in 2008, a time when many young people felt anxious about the future due to changes in the social environment. In depicting Seoul, the film deliberately emphasizes the contrast between areas dense with high-rise buildings and less crowded districts. In addition, the film largely preserves the overall structure of the original work, such as using color and black-and-white footage to distinguish past and present, but makes many adjustments in details like the performances.^[4]

3.2. Casting

In December 2023, South Korean media reported that Koo Kyo-hwan and Moon Ga-young were in talks to star in the new film Us and Them. The film is a remake of the Chinese film of the same name starring Jing Boran and Zhou Dongyu, and is scheduled to begin filming in March 2024.^[5][6]

4. Marketing and release

The first trailer was released on November 13, 2025, and it was announced that the film would be officially released in South Korea on December 31 of the same year.^[7]

5. Reception

5.1. Box office

The film was released on December 31, 2025, on 961 screens.^[8] It opened at second place at the South Korean box office with 110,326 admissions. The film has grossed US$17,758,350 from 2,596,635 admissions.^[8][1] It "defied expectations" in the box office according to The Korea Times.^[9] The film led the Korean box office for four weeks.^[10][11] Its box office success is attributed to its focus on emotional depth.^[12]

5.2. Critical response

John Liu and Joanne Soh of The Straits Times gave the film four out of five stars. They wrote that the film: "delivers a smart dissection of love’s tragic irony, earning its tearjerker moments through emotionally grounded storytelling."^[13]

5.3. Accolades