Back to Asian cinema and lovely plot holes.

One of the greatest apps for the iPhone is TVUPlayer.  It’s a peer-to-peer television application that lets you watch TV from around the world.  One channel is basically the latest and greatest movies from Asia, which I’ve been watching quite a bit over the last few weeks to help cure the insomnia and middle of the night wakeups that go with being a dad. In the past few weeks I’ve seen:

• Sniper (Hong Kong)
• Spy Girl (Korean)
• Lady Cop & Poppa Crook (Hong Kong)
• Sassy Girl (Korean)
• New Police Story (Hong Kong)
• Accidental Spy (Hong Kong)
• Mr. Nice Guy (Hong Kong)

It’s the last one (picture at right) that moved me to write a post.  I came into the film a bit late so I had to check wikipedia for some plot background.  As you may know, many Asian films undergo some plot development flaws and a certain inconsistency problem.  This is the plot summary below.  See if you can guess why I was a tad confused…

They travel to a mountain in the countryside where she unveils a time capsule. During the previous night the couple wrote their true feelings in letters which the Girl says will be buried next to a particular tree on the mountain. They agree to meet again at the tree after two years to read the letters together. After burying the time capsule they go their separate ways. Overtime During the two year span, Gyeon-woo works hard to improve himself in many ways, even writing My Sassy Girl which someone has bought the movie rights to, an event he eagerly anticipates telling the Girl about. When the agreed upon date arrives, he travels to the mountain but the Girl does not show up. Eventually, he opens the time capsule and reads her letter and learns the root of her angst and behavior: Gyeon-woo reminds her of her previous boyfriend who, rather than breaking up with her, actually died before she met Gyeon-woo. All through the time the Girl and Gyeon-woo were seeing each other she had been seeing her dead boyfriend’s mother, who wants to introduce her to a nice young man. A year after Gyeon-woo visits the tree, the Girl finally arrives. Sitting under the tree is an old man. During their conversation the old man reveals the secret of the tree, that it is not the same tree; the original tree had been struck and killed by lightning a year before and a similar tree had been planted by a young man so that someone special wasn’t sad, and that he has read the letters. The Girl says she had hoped that destiny would bring the couple together during the two years. As the girl begins to read the letter, she sees a UFO (time machine) flying away. This lead her to believe that the old man was Gyeon-woo from the future.The Girl then tries to call Gyeon-woo repeatedly, but she was informed that number is either changed or doesn’t exists. The film then cuts to Gyeon-woo entering a subway station, wearing the same suit he was wearing at the beginning of the movie. The flashback has ended and continuity is resumed from right after Gyeon-woo leaves the photo-studio. Gyeon-woo is caught outside the shutting doors of a train, presumably ignorant at first of the Girl’s presence on the train but after a few seconds of staring he seems to realise whom it is he sees from behind. As the train pulls out he runs along but has to give up. At lunch with her deceased boyfriend’s mother after a year-and-a-half, the Girl is surprised to hear a familiar voice apologise for his lateness. The mother introduces her nephew Gyeon-woo whom she has been trying to introduce to the Girl for years. The mother, who is Gyeon-woo’s aunt, tells the Girl to go out with him, he’ll make things easier for her and then tells Gyeon-woo that the Girl can give advice to him about his impending trip to England but Gyeon-woo replies, “I don’t have to go now.” The pair hold hands under the table and the Girl says she thinks she met a man from the future (Gyeon-woo’s future self).

  WTF?  WTF? is really the only thing I can think of after watching this stuff.]]>