MovieChat Forums > Sungnyangpali sonyeoui jaerim (2002) Discussion > I just don't get mit

I just don't get mit

posted 21 years ago by audioman737
15 replies | jump to latest

can somebody explain to me the movie. i watched it last night and could not figure it out.......
Why is she selling lighters/matches is there any significance to the movie?
How come she starts shooting everyone who does not want to buy a match from her?
Is it a game within a game?
If she dreams about you..you win the game....whats the point?
If the objecxt of the game is to freeze her and win why didnt they do it in the end?
Help? One of the most "hard to understand" films I've seen.

[–] janus3 21 years ago

haha, i'm just as lost as you, i'm just gonna accept it as a cool movie and not try to decipher it's meaning.

[–] the_diceman 20 years ago

Hey Audioman737, I probably can help you with some of your questions:

1. Why is she selling lighters/matches is there any significance to the movie?
- The whole movie is based on the fairy-tale "The little Matchgirl" by Hans- Christian Andersen (the guy who wrote "Arielle"). The topic is about a girl who sells matches on a cold winter night, but no one wants to buy them, so in the end she dies (I think . . .). In the movie they took lighters to achieve a more now-a-day-feeling. It´s kinda cool, I think . . .

2. How come she starts shooting everyone who does not want to buy a match from her?
- Simple: They won´t buy, they have to die - she needs the money to make a living (what kind of living is another question . . .)

3. Is it a game within a game?
- I don´t think so (haven´t figured out myself). It´s a cool movie, that is all what matters. You don´t have to understand it in order to like it (That´s my "David-Lynch-Attitude").

4. If she dreams about you..you win the game....whats the point?
- Sorry, didn´t get you with this one.

5. If the object of the game is to freeze her and win why didnt they do it in the end?
- I thought they did . . . Well, I have to see it again. When is the release date?

[–] MonteVerdi 20 years ago

i did't like this movie at all.
horrible style, awful score, lame pacing, astonishing unoriginal and worst of all... one can't even sledgehammer sense into this.
a definite instant-forget. it slipped my mind before the end-credits rolled.

please don't watch this if your a asian-cinema-afficionado like me.

@diceman ... sorry dude your try of explaining not making sense either (no offense) btw i'm a lynch-fan myself (i even got a working theory on Lost Highway :) but this one .... hmmm just sux. ( if u like korean flicks with intelligent plots and tons of style, watch chan-wook park films instead .. or if you just want a cool, stylish film (without a challenging plot), try Bangkok Dangerous. You will definitively love it!)

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] MonteVerdi 20 years ago

Yes, in my opinion, this film sucks!
Why do you have a problem with that?
BTW this is not a MonteVerdi board, so no one is interested in your opinion about me, conjo.

Sincerely... the turd burgler (lmao cretin).

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] MonteVerdi 20 years ago

Callate tu, gusano imbecil, desgracia de una perra callente!!!

un abrazo gordo
el verde

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] MonteVerdi 20 years ago

Americano.

[–] MrPumpernickel 18 years ago

Isn't it if you ARE an asian-cinema-afficionado that you should watch it? I mean, if you only devour movies that are the top of the line, or just the stuff that regularly make it out into the western world, then you're an idiot. Watch both the good and the bad, that way you won't become disillusioned and just another mindless asiophile.

[–] yea_whateva 19 years ago

>If she dreams about you..you win the game....whats the point?

another reference to the poem. i think she dreams about the one she loves the most in the end of the poem, which is her grandmother. the point of the game is to make her dream of you instead.

>If the objecxt of the game is to freeze her and win why didnt they do it in the end?

you already answered that yourself ;) the object of the game is only to make her dream, not to let let her die. joo thinks he won, and saves her then.

>Is it a game within a game?

sort of. it´s the objective of stage1, and stage1 follows the rather odd rules of system.

[–] adriandraco 18 years ago

Don't search for a deeper meaning in this movie. I think, the whole story hasn't got anithyng to say. It doesn't want to teach you, to give you a great conclusion (referring to real life events) or tell you moral things etc... You can find maybe deeper things in some parts of the movie, but you don't have to. Just enjoy the fun and silly ride. It's a great and very underrated movie. It's for pure entertainment. Just for pleasure.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] chinoalfonz 18 years ago

Creative take on an old fairy tale, but it also has some very original things in it. The whole movie is Joo's imagination, while he is playing in that video game tournament that his friend was invited to after winning that Starcraft tournament. The resurrection of the little match girl is the video game tournament that system created(not where actual people are dying, like at the end of the movie and he walks out of the computer lab where everyone is playing the same game). In his mind the little match girl happens to be the girl that works at the arcade and he happens to have a crush on her. I like the little original things like the Credit card he gets in the video game that has the Dreamcast symbol on it and other video game references, like in the trailer for the movie(which should have been in the movie) You kind of have to be a video game fan to somewhat enjoy the film. And the reason I don't take it as a Matrix rip off is because the only thing it steals from the matrix is The ending with the scrolling characters. Its not like there is a real world and zion, its all in Joo's head, and when he fights his friend it was just Joo's imagination(like when he killed everybody in that office at the beginning of the movie) of how he envisions the game he actually is playing is being played out in his head(if that makes any sense).

[–] kountxero 15 years ago

WEll, I'll say it about one of my latest favourites... I'll try my best.

1.Why is she selling lighters/matches is there any significance to the movie?
Well, the Christiansen tale of the Little Match Girl is just revised and put in a modern setting; thus, she isn't selling matches, she's selling lighters. Further, I think the matches and the randomized ones and zeros on them is a way to connect to the simulation/game "Resurrection of the Little Match Girl"

2.How come she starts shooting everyone who does not want to buy a match from her?
Actually, that part made me cry. Anyway, from what I understand, she is a program within the simulation and has a bug. Hence, she's shooting people. I also thought it more in the context of the actual story of Little Match Girl - she dies because nobody buys matches from her. So this time, she just takes revenge on all the people who don't buy matches: because if nobody buys matches, that collective "nobody" equals cruelty.

There is also the possibility that the LMG program gained sentience and is understandably bitter towards those who just will not cough up a few wons to save a girl. (the sentience thing I thought when the System said "She's reformed. Nobody will notice her again.")

3. Is it a game within a game?
Yeah. At least, that's what I thought. Either that, or the world of the movie is a simulation that generates a bug with the Little Match Girl - in which case it would be the simulation's cheap-ass de-bugging systems. Think of it like Microsoft where mostly, users are used as beta-testers of the product. In all cases, though, the movie isn't very explicit about why the game is being played. There's just enough evidence to suggest that there is a hyper-realistic game, played within a simulation, and that's it.

4. If she dreams about you..you win the game....whats the point?
I took it as more of a play on conscience and again, think back at the story. The original LMG sees her grandmother. This LMG sees her now-dead boyfriend. This person, in both instances, remains the only person that has been kind to her. The goal isn't so much as to be the one she dreams about, it is to be the one who shows her the most kindness. Of course, the rules dictate you gotta do that precisely by making her suffer, but if you wanna get REALLY anal about it (which I don't think is adequate, given the movie's nature), we can just say that love hurts. The achievement, I think, is not just to occupy her dreams, it is to be WORTHY of them.

5. If the objecxt of the game is to freeze her and win why didnt they do it in the end?
Well, "Falling Leaves in Autumn" (Choopung) was the developer of the simulation-regulator ("the System"). He somehow got stuck and the regulatory program of LMG is his ticket out. That's what I figured (I seem to have a knack for finding connections that don't really exist, like Russel T. Davies' "science" fiction) further, the LMG program can regulate the System, yes? Well, it can also plunge it into chaos - since it is pivotal to the System's functioning, it cannot be erased, only updated. That kinda implies that it's part of its source code, or like a kernel file. In any event, whatever happens, happens, and Ju, with Choopung's help, gets outside the boundaries of the System and into it's core (think back to the Matrix and The Source). Ju had, apparently, fallen in love with or had taken pity for the LMG, so he attempted to rescue her, and in the "Good Ending", managed to. Note that, however, the System took Ju as a "virus", probably to imply he would be able to do things beyond the System's control - such as rescuing the LMG.

The interesting part is, the presence of Hee-mee (the girl in the internet cafe at the end) and the arcade girl, the "sad" ending and things that make too little sense for it to be a simulation (Ju's actual life) also presents possibility for everything being Ju's waking dream or imagination of a better, more pleasant life with action, romance and everything thrown in between. Who doesn't dream of a life like that (quite possibly excluding the Little Match Girl... though I wouldn't say no.)

Phew... I was gonna go to sleep, too...