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20th Century Girl is the latest Korean film to be released on streaming platform Netflix and it did not take too long for the movie to be featured on the trending list.
Starring Kim Yoo-jung, Byeon Woo-seok, Roh Yoon-seo, Park Jung-woo, and Han Hyo-joo, 20th Century Girl is about a group of high school students experiencing falling in love for the first time.
Disclaimer: Major spoilers for 20th Century Girl ahead.
Set in 1999, the story revolves around Na Bo-ra and Yeon-doo, who are best friends forced to part because the latter is off to the US for a heart surgery. However, Yeon-doo is hesitant to go because she has fallen in love with a boy from school, Hyun-jin and she doesn’t want to give up the chance of getting to know him whom she met at her parents’ tailor shop.
Bo-ra convinces her friend to go and get the surgery done while promising that she would dig up all the necessary information about Hyun-jin.
Bo-ra befriends Woon-ho to get closer to Hyun-jin in 20th Century Girl
Bo-ra does everything possible to get close to Hyun-jin and one of the ways that she chooses is to join the broadcast club in school. Hyun-jin and his best friend Woon-ho are set to audition to be a part of the club. Unfortunately for her, only Woon-ho makes it, and so she chooses to use him to dig up some information including Hyun-jin’s pager number.
Since the show is set in the late 90s, there are phone booths, PPs (personal pagers) and radio. All of this, in a way, adds a strong element to nostalgia. The film is, in a way, similar to the hit tvN drama Twenty Five Twenty One.
20th Century Girl centers on high-schoolers, and its story is all about the love that these four students experience. Of course, there is a conflict that strikes the film about mid-way. One can see this coming from a mile away, but it is still charming to see young girls and boys trying to resolve the situation as best as they know how to.
In the process of gathering information about Hyun-jin in 20th Century Girl, Bo-ra ends up falling in love with Woon-ho. Hyun-jin was initially smitten with her as well, asking her out, but she rejected him outright. In fact, her rejection was quite harsh, considering she knows her friend’s interest in this boy, her rejection made sense.
Bo-ra is excited because Woon-ho seemingly reciprocates her feelings. She sends a mail to Yeon-doo in 20th Century Girl about having fallen in love, wanting her best friend to be the first-ever person to confess her feelings to. Later, she sets up a date with Woon-ho and decides to confess her feelings. Unfortunately, tensions arise the moment Yeon-doo returns to Cheongju (a city in South Korea).
Shocking truth about Yeon-doo’s crush in 20th Century Girl
Yeon-doo and Bo-ra have a reunion at the ice cream shop where Woon-ho works as a part-time employee. Hyun-jin is also present here, and the four of them get together for the first time.
So far in 20th Century Girl, Bo-ra hadn’t revealed to Hyun-jin that her best friend might be interested in him. Now that Yeon-doo is back, she hopes the two of them can get together. But there is only one problem though. Yeon-doo confesses that she was mistaken about the identity of the boy she had a crush on.
Woon-ho is the boy that she met at the beginning of 20th Century Girl, and on that day, he had worn his friend’s school jacket that had Hyun-jin’s nametag.
The moment Bo-ra finds out about this, she decides to give up on her feelings, while also ditching the date. She distances herself from Woon-ho and also confesses to him that things might not work between them.
This is on the very same day that Woon-ho hopes to give her a confession letter in 20th Century Girl. He is heartbroken, and it is revealed that Woon-ho has been checking out Bo-ra for a while. He spotted her for the first time at her parent’s VCR tape rental store and has been intrigued by her since. So his feelings for her are not rooted in shallow attraction. However, this is not the end of their story.
Woon-ho’s unfortunate death in 20th Century Girl
The film begins with a scene set in the present where Bo-ra’s father receives a package for her. It is a tape that had been rented from his store many years back. However, it is a title that is R rated, so Bo-ra’s father wonders if a boyfriend of hers sent it to her.
Along with the tape comes an invite to an art exhibition featuring artworks of someone called Joseph. Upon seeing this, the adult Bo-ra (Han Hyo-joo) recalls her first love.
It is revealed that Yeon-doo had forgiven Bo-ra for lying about her feelings for Woon-ho. Bo-ra and Woon-ho began dating with Yeon-doo and Hyun-jin’s help, but not for long enough.
The two confessed to each other on the day Woon-ho had to fly out to New Zealand. From then until a year later, the two were in a long distance relationship. One day, when Woon-ho stopped sending Bo-ra emails in 20th Century Girl, she tried reaching him on call and via email, but in vain. She misunderstands him, believing that he ghosted her and goes through a heart break.
It is only years later in the present that she learns the truth about Woon-ho. Turns out, he was indeed prepared to return to Seoul for his higher studies, just as he and Bo-ra had planned, but due to an accident, Woon-ho died.
The film doesn’t go too far into the details surrounding his death, but Bo-ra gets closure after all these years. She gets an assurance that Woon-ho was indeed as much in love with her, as she was with him. The video tape with edits of their time together is proof enough.
The one who takes the time and effort to explain everything to Bo-ra in 20th Century Girl is none other Woon-ho’s brother, Joseph.
