the ending

Yeah I was surprised by the ending. She slept with Steve just because she is lonely. You can tell by the look on her face at the end. I dont think she had any other friends. When Tran stopped hanging out with her she was all sad like he was the only person in her life she cared about. The thing with her dad I think she was just imagining what she'd say to him if she could see him.

The ending was really good, i thought. Aimie really liked her friend (--Tran was his name?), but he told her that he just wanted to be friends. So she went to a party she knew he'd be at and in typical female fashion she tried to put some hurt back on him by sleeping with someone else, someone she was accused of liking in the movie while she hung out with Tran. Girl power!

Yeah, the ending wasn't horrible, though I do hate the open endings/abrupt and enigmatic conclusions on these type of character studies. It would have been nice to get some sort of closure, but I guess we're just left to wonder and make our own decision about where Aimee and Tran's relationship went afterward. Does she keep alienating herself from him just because she can't stand to be just friends, or is sick of his games? Does he keep playing too cool, though it's obvious he gets jealous of the whole Steve thing? There was a nice opportunity to make a pretty good film, but the missing pieces were just too much to overcome, IMO, and that's a shame. I honestly found myself really wanting to like this movie, but it came up short and left me wanting a lot more out of the story. I know I'll get the "artistic" approach responses, but to me, if you're going to tell this kind of story, just tell it, don't leave so many things unsaid and untold.

It's kinda obviious why the film only grossed 1/3rd of its budget...

We get 90 minutes of setup but no payoff.

What the... ???????

Dwacon
http://dwacon.blogspot.com/

I was so surprised by the sudden ending that I went back and watched the final scene 3 times. Finally, I came away with two possible meanings what the writer may have intended to communicate.

Maybe he was just being nihilistic, suggesting that there really is no meaning in life and relationships, so the best one can hope for is to accept the meaninglessness and just move from one form of nothingness and emptiness to the next. Unfortunately this philosophy of life is very much alive today, especially in parts of Asia.

The other possibility is the one I prefer to believe. Maybe the writer is sending a message to detached and absent parents about the impact they have on their kids lives when they disappear, either physically, (as Aimie's dad did) or emotionally (as her mom did). Throughout the movie, Aimie is mourning her father's disappearance while constantly trying in vain to find his love and a connection with him through her lonely musings. At the same time, her mom is totally clueless about her daughter, thinking that she is studying all the time, when she's really just hanging out with less than savory friends. Aimie, left to her own, at least on an emotional level, seeks love and acceptance while at the same time trying to do what is right. (Note her anger at Tran's sexual advances, even though she loves him, and her despair and guilt over stealing the radio. Also, she is deeply affected by the real love she sees in the stolen letter and photos -- so much so that she recognizes the importance of returning them to their owner.)

Either way, the final scene is the same. In it, we see Aimie falling into total meaninglessness, deeply unhappy, and headed nowhere, fast. We are left with the question, Will she turn around? Will she find what she is looking for? Or will she end up giving up and turning into nothing but an empty shell?