MovieChat Forums > Sennen joyû (2002) Discussion > the last line ruined it, a little.

the last line ruined it, a little.

posted 17 years ago by ksqueaker-1
22 replies | jump to latest

This movie was amazing, but the last line, "The part I really loved was chasing him", ruined it for me. I believed (foolishly, perhaps?) that she really was in love with her man, and that she was motivated by her dogged, undying love, rather than the thrill of having someone to love. It really made the whole movie seem false, to me. Like she was in love with the idea of having someone to love, rather than being in love with her man.
What do you all think?

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Captainbadd 17 years ago

I think the line fit perfectly. After all, did she ever really know the man who she was chasing? She couldn't even remember his face!
I think love and relationships are rarely (if ever) what we build them up to be in our own minds, and I think it's just as well that she never found him. Besides, how many of us struggle and pour all our effort into attaining something only to become bored with it in the end? Chiyoko's realization at the end demonstrated that her character knew better than that. I think the last words (as well as the words of the wraith) more than hint at the fact that she was actually in love with her bygone youth. Natsukashi.;-)

However, I think your analysis over her seeking someone/something to love is spot-on. The key to enjoying the film is not to look at it as a "classic" love story. It's a love story, but not necessarily your average boy meets girl type of film. I think it runs a little closer to real life in that it's a story about lost youth, and how we're not always 100% sure what it is we're after.

It's insightful, and says a little bit about us as human beings which is one reason why I liked it so much.

[–] pmdawn 17 years ago

I also thought that line was perfect. I know a few women just like Chiyoko. And the whole movie was a big chase sequence.

[–] RipCity 17 years ago

The last line is beautifily set-up during the initial meeting between the two. She looks out to the full moon, but he says it's not full yet, that's the next day. He adds that he prefers the day before the full moon. That's the whole point of the end, or as an old saying goes, it's not the destination, it's the journey that's important.

Veni, vidi, vermicelli
I came, I saw, I had pasta

[–] xRambaldiCodex 16 years ago

You know, when I saw the film for the first time, around 2 years ago, I would have agreed with you. However, now that I've seen it again and again, I realize the importance of that last line, and how it showed what kind of a woman Chiyoko really was. Besides, if that line had been omitted, it would have been just another generic (well, hardly generic, considering the rest of the film, but cliched nontheless) ending. Chiyoko's line made it unique, and i's one of the reasons this is one of my all-time favorite films.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] swearjar 16 years ago

I liked the last line aswell, obviously if it had been uttered at the start of the film or any other time it would have maybe ruined it a wee bit but as a last line i thought it worked.

late for the sky

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] lilwand11 14 years ago

She added that in retrospect. She was dying and wanted to die with a smile on her face. She could have been sad that her life was a failure because she never met him. But rather than crying about it she chooses to look at her life differently. Also for her fan who was crying perhaps. It ends her life on a happy note.

Did you see that scene where she breakdowns saying she never met him even once?
Do you really think she would chase someone her entire life only 'for the chase'? Would anyone chase anything if they knew for a fact they wouldn't get the object of their desire? Where would the motivation come from? Just because she wanted to die on a positive note, look at her life differently moments before her death, it ruins the movie?

[–] guaili 14 years ago

I'm with the group that believes the line works perfectly. She didn't really know him, it was just a little girl crush that grew into obssession, even sickly obssession, throughout her life. It was never true love but the idealization of true love.

[–] BurnInMyLight 12 years ago

Makes one wonder just what she would have done afterward if she ever found the guy.

[–] baygerbieger 14 years ago

"It's not the destination it's the journey".

The natural way to learn, is through repetition. Repetition is the natural way to learn.

[–] mattbrenii 14 years ago

"Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side... it's the climb"

[–] snakeab 13 years ago

the line accurately summarizes a theme in the movie, and the character, but I think it lessens the movie because there's no need to tell us this--to summarize the movie in one line-- since we've already been shown it.

part of the thrill of the chase is the feeling that you might actually succeed...