“20th Century Girl” (spoiler-free synopsis by story arcs)

From Wikipedia: “20th Century Girl” is a South Korean romance drama film written and directed by Bang Woo-ri in her feature film debut, starring Kim Yoo-jung, Byeon Woo-seok, Park Jung-woo, and Roh Yoon-seo. The film depicts the friendship and freshness of first love against the backdrop of 1999. It was released on October 21, 2022 on Netflix.

[The main character “Bo-ra” is played as a teenager by Kim Yoo-jung and as an adult by Han Hyo-joo.]

A day after its release, “20th Century Girl” ranked 7th globally on Netflix’s movie category. Subsequently on 24 October, it ranked 5th in the same category. Within three days of its release, it debuted at 2 on Netflix’s global chart of Top 10 non-English movie category for the week of October 17 to 23, with eight million hours viewed.

Reviews of this movie are generally positive, with special mentions of Kim Yoo-jung’s brilliant acting:

1. ‘20th Century Girl’ Review: A Korean Teenager Navigates First Love and the Complexity of Female Friendship (Variety)

2. “Busan 2022: 20th Century Girl movie review – Netflix Korean romantic comedy starring Kim Yoo-jung is a heartwarming tale of youthful errors” (South China Morning Post)

How to use this spoiler-free synopsis

Based on the story arcs, I divided this movie into five parts, indicating the start and end of each part in minute marks. For each part, I narrated the main actions without revealing the twists and turns.

Part 5 is the movie’s finale (the last 24 minutes or so); you can just read Parts 1 to 4, for example, to know what the movie is all about and then go watch the movie. (Part 3 is the midway point of the movie, between 43:54 to 1:10:04.)

Caution: The embedded video clips below from The Swoon might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full movie.

Part 1 (from start to 20:34 mark)

Present times ... Na Bo-ra gets a call from her father, who says that the mailman delivered a videotape for her from someone named “Joseph.” The video’s title is “The forbidden love in everyone’s secret dreams,” and Bo-ra smiles as she remembers the videotape.

Flashback, 1999 ... Kim Yeon-du has a massive crush on a boy whom she met just once in her mother’s shop; the name sewed on his shirt says “Baek Hyun-jin.” She and her best friend Na Bo-ra are about to enter the same high school that Hyun-jin goes to, but she has to go to the USA for a heart surgery.

A fiercely loyal friend, Bo-ra teaches Yeon-du how to use e-mail and promises to keep her informed about everything related to Hyun-jin. But on the first day of classes, she finds out that girls and boys in their high school have separate classes.

During lunch break, Bo-ra sees that Hyun-jin has a pager. She rushes up to the students who have lined up to use the phone and peeks over the students’ shoulders as Hyun-jin punches in his pager number.

Note: Part 1 spoilers are at the bottom portion of this post.

Part 2 (from 20:35 to 43:53)

During the cherry blossom festival, Bo-ra asks Woon-ho about the kind of girl that Hyun-jin likes and about his favorite things. When she asks what college course Hyun-jin plans to pursue, Woon-ho teases her by telling her what he himself plans to take in college — film or journalism and broadcasting. He also teaches Bo-ra how to use a video camera.

After the festival, Bo-ra injures her ankle in a fight when one of the boys from the Paradise Gang harasses Hyun-jin for stealing his girl. Later, Hyun-jin tells Bo-ra that she’s great and asks her if they could go out on a date.

Bo-ra runs away from Hyun-jin, despite her injury and without her crutch. At a small park, as she tends to her ankle, Woon-ho arrives with her crutch. That night, she struggles about telling Yeon-du about Hyun-jin. During the weekend class field trip, in the presence of her friends, Hyun-jin asks Bo-ra about their date.

Note: Part 2 spoilers are at the bottom portion of this post.

Part 3 (from 43:54 to 1:10:04)

Woon-ho begins working at a new ice cream parlor that’s near the video store of Bo-ra’s father. As she begins spending time together with Woon-ho, Bo-ra emails Yeon-du and tells her that she’s falling in love.

While having ice cream with Hyun-jin, Bo-ra is surprised to see Yeon-du looking at them through the parlor’s glass window. Later, Bo-ra is shocked when Yeon-du says that Hyun-jin looks good in the ice cream parlor’s uniform; she says that the guy’s name is Woon-ho, but Yeon-du says that he’s Hyun-jin and points him out in the picture on the beach taken during the field trip.

Note: Part 3 spoilers are at the bottom portion of this post.

Part 4 (from 1:10:95 to 1:35:49)

The Broadcast Club assigns Bo-ra and Woon-ho to work together on a video project titled “Letter to the 21st Century.” After editing their video at a TV network, they go to an amusement park with Yeon-du and Hyun-jin.

When Woon-ho takes his place at the rollercoaster ride alongside Bo-ra, Hyun-jin goes to keep company with Yeon-du. When she asks why he’s not riding the rollercoaster, he tells her that Bo-ra and Woon-ho like each other.

Yeon-du becomes angry with Bo-ra for not telling her about her feelings for Woon-ho; she tells Bo-ra that she needs her as a friend, not as a nurse.

Note: Part 4 spoilers are at the bottom portion of this post.

Part 5 (from 1:35:50 to the end)

Through the days leading up to year 2000, Bo-ra and Woon-ho communicate frequently by e-mail. On the other hand, Yeon-du and Hyun-jin begin to like each other.

But as Bo-ra and Yeon-du go off to college, Woon-ho stops answering her e-mails.

Present times ... Bo-ra gets an invitation to attend a multimedia exhibit by Joseph, the man who sent her the videotape.

Notes: 1. Part 5 spoilers are at the bottom portion of this post; 2. The clip below from The Swoon shows scenes from Part 1 and Part 2.



Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information

1. This movie is mainly set in 1999 and shows some things that today’s generation might not be familiar with — pagers (beepers), VCR players, video rental stores, etc.







2. This movie’s main character “Bo-ra” is played as a teenager by Kim Yoo-jung and as an adult by Han Hyo-joo.

In the 2010 blockbuster historical drama “Dong Yi,” the main character was played by Kim Yoo-jung as a child and by Han Hyo-joo as an adult. (Kim Yoo-jung was 11 years old at that time.) The transition scene from Dong Yi, the child, to Dong Yi, the adult, takes place at the end of Ep. 4 where Dong Yi is shown playing the “hageum.”

“Dong Yi” transition scene (14:06 to 15:22)



MBC awards ceremonies (Han Hyo-joo watches from the audience as Kim Yoo-jung performs on stage)



I first saw Kim Yoo-jung in “Dong Yi” where she was about 9 or 10 years old. Then I saw her in “Hwang Jin Yi” and “Queen Seondeok” (she was probably 3 or 4 years old), “Iljimae” (probably the same age), “Painter of the Wind” (she was around 5 years old), and in “The Moon That Embraces The Sun” (she was probably 13). I even watched “May Queen” (a non-sageuk) when I found out she was in it.



Kim Yoo-jung and Yeo Jin-goo receive awards for their performances in “Iljimae” (2:06 to 4:04)



Part 1 spoilers

Bo-ra meets Hyun-jin on the bus in their first day of classes. She begins stalking Hyun-jin (who’s always with his best friend Poong Woon-ho) and finds out that he’s joining the Broadcast Club.

Bo-ra qualifies for the Taekwondo Club when Hyun-jin withdraws. She and Woon-ho qualify for the Broadcast Club, but Hyun-jin does not.

After Bo-ra brings him the adult video from her father’s store, Woon-ho brings Hyun-jin to the store and tells him to write down his pager number on the application form. Bo-ra then gives the pager number to Yeon-du.

Part 2 spoilers

Hyun-jin offers Bo-ra a ride on his motorcycle and takes her to a romantic hilltop; Bo-ra becomes flustered when he asks if she likes him.

At the park, Bo-ra begins to see Woon-ho in a new light.

During the field trip, Bo-ra and her classmates get drunk. She gets angry at some boys who are stealing their drinks and begins pounding on the door of what she thinks is the boys’ room. But it’s Woon-ho who opens the door; when their teacher arrives, asking who’s making all the noise, Woon-ho grabs her hand and leads her to a storeroom.

On the beach, Hyun-jin notices Bo-ra staring at Woon-ho; later, using Woon-ho’s camera, the three of them have their picture taken.

Part 3 spoilers

On their way to a plum tree, Bo-ra finds out that Woon-ho’s parents are divorced and that his five-year old brother is with his mother in New Zealand.

After asking Bo-ra to go see a movie with him, Woon-ho kisses her.

Flashback ... Yeon-du misidentified Woon-ho because he was wearing Hyun-jin’s middle school jacket when they first met.

Because of Yeon-du, Bo-ra begins avoiding Woon-ho and acting coldly towards him.

Woon-ho has to go back to New Zealand. He writes a love letter which he’s not able, however, to give to Bo-ra. In it, he tells her about the first few times that he saw her after he first came to Korea and during the first days of school; he also tells her of the first time he saw her at the video store trying to get an adult video from the shelves, without her father knowing about it.

Part 4 spoilers:

On the rollercoaster ride, Woon-ho screams out that he likes Bo-ra.

Yeon-du finds the secret email that Bo-ra sent her, telling her about her first kiss with Woon-ho. The next day, she tells Woon-ho that Bo-ra likes her as much as he likes her. She also tells her of the time when she collapsed, and Bo-ra, who was 12 years old at that time, carried her on her back down the mountain.

Woon-ho rushes to Bo-ra’s house, but Bo-ra and her parents aren’t home; they’re at the hospital where Bo-ra’s brother has been brought because of an emergency.

Through Yeon-du and Hyun-jin, Bo-ra catches up with Woon-ho at the train station and confesses her love for him; he tells her to wait because he’ll come back for her.

Part 5 spoilers:

Woon-ho died in 2001. His brother, Joseph, found the video that Woon-ho treasured and sent it to Bo-ra. He also organized the exhibit featuring his works, some of which were inspired by Woon-ho’s treasured memories.

In her father’s video store, Bo-ra views a 1999 videotape shot by Woon-ho. Part of it shows Woon-ho telling his five-year old brother to address Bo-ra politely; as the videotape ends, Woon-ho looks directly into the camera and tells Bo-ra that he will come back for her.