MovieChat Forums > Bu Neng Shuo De. Mi Mi (2007) Discussion > My personal interprertation (warning: on...

My personal interprertation (warning: only intellectual people please)

posted 16 years ago by elysier
7 replies | jump to latest

Every since I watched the movie, all these thoughts and logic started clashing together in my head. The thought of such a great movie with so many unanswered questions that leaves a huge plot hole is simply mind boggling.

And so, I finally found a place to post all my thoughts and finally unleash my inner thinkings.

Note that some of my thinking patterns are very close to tgan3's. Please know none of the stuff I am about to write is plagiarized from him. In fact, I only registered just today! I will, however, follow the order in which he wrote. This is only to make it easier on me.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Know this. What you are about to read is written by a 15 year old Sophomore. Everything WILL be jumbled up (but I tried to clean it up as much as I could) and most of it will be jumpy.

AND it's really REALLY long. So unless you have the time to spare, be prepare to press back....
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Okay so here's the thing. If you thought real carefully about the movie, then this thought should have come to your head at one point another; Is there different "time dimensions"?

Also, were there two Jays present throughout the whole movie?

In other words, are different time periods running parallel together? This one's EXTREMELY difficult to explain in words. But here's a ATTEMPT.

Basically, this is what I'm saying. Is there different dimensions that have different time periods (anywhere from 1 second ago to 20 years into the future)?

Just basically imagine a film strip. And now, imagine each one of those all running at the same time. Basically, one of those is one "time dimension". Now imagine all of those running at the same time.

I don't mean this type of running: (each "-" and "|" represents one box I guess)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +Not running horizontally

^ this would be one going after another, causing motion picture.

The type of running I'm talking about is this:

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

^ Notice how each one runs parallel next to each other?

Unless you occupied my head, I will never be able to explain this.

So to make things simple, I'll use use tgan's method.

Time dimension 1: Xiao Yu's time.
Time dimension 2: Jay Chou's time.

Let's get one thing clear: Xiao Yu most likely died because of these reasons.

1. She was saddened by the fact she will never be able to see Jay again. (she said so herself when she was talking to the teacher [or Jay's dad I presume])

2. Her mother's gone insane her teacher thinks she's mentally challenged. To add a step further, the so-called class president told everyone about this "secret".

3. She thought Jay was cheating on her with the other girl.

4. During the graduation, when she was writing with white out, the pressure of everything she's been through finally got to her and her asthma kicked in.

When Jay returned to the past, the building was being demolished at the time. As he pressed the final key, the piano itself was (probably) destroyed. If this is the case, then Jay has no future to return to because when you return to your own time, you return to the time that you played the piece (my theory). This was was never clarified so I can't say for sure. But lets just assume this is the case. If Jay has no future (or present), then whatever time period he's in becomes his present time. This might possibly explain the class photo.

As for why Xiao Yu is still alive? The only logical reason is Jay traveled further back in time. From here, logic is ignored because the movie also never clarified this whole "speed" (or tempo) issue. But, we can all presume Jay played super fast because.... well c'mon. A building's being demolished, you want to see your loved one again, and time is of essence. If it were me, I would have played so fast, I would have gone back to the dinosaur age! Anyway....

Depending on which subbed version of the movie you watched, this part might be different. However, the reason why Xiao Yu's mother said Xiao Yu was sick (when she was actually dead) was because she herself has gone insane. The death of her daughter was too much for her to handle and so, denial kicked in. In the past, when the character switched from Jay to Xiao Yu briefly, Xiao Yu was asked by her mother what she was like in the future. She couldn't say that she goes insane, so rather, she says the front door lock breaks (which does happen).*******

*******- Sorry guys. At this point, I am completely lost in thought. So many things are coming to me all at once and unfortunately, I only have two hands to type one idea at a time with. Basically, I completely forgot what I was talking about and what I was about to write. The fact that it's 11 pm (well past when I sleep) doesn't help either.

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Anyway, I was also interested in interpreting this whole "Jay-XiaoYu sibling issue.

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tgan3 wrote this |
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And also, why did the teacher and Xiao Yu talk as if they were so close, when Xiao Yu was explaining her secret of travelling to the future??...Although Xiao Yu address the teacher as "teacher" not "father"( This was because she didnt know that the teacher was her father, i'll explained it later... )Remember the beginning? Where Jay was in the school, and the teacher caught the two boys with cigarettes? We didnt know that Jay and the teacher were related in that scene, much similar to the case of the "young teacher" and Xiao Yu...It was only made known when they show Jay and the teacher eating together in their house...( haha nice clues laid out by jay chou )

Then why were the mother and father living in seperate homes? I guess they divorced when Xiao Yu was very young( So Xiao Yu cant remember whos her father )...That explains why the teacher is so concerned about Xiao Yu( asking her to come on graduation day and also taking a picture with her), and the teacher and Xiao Yu's mother didnt want to acknowledge they were together once...
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Ahh. There's actually a simple explanation for that. So simple that even a caveman can understand it. However, it's only a theory.

Basically, the teacher thought Xiao Yu was mentally challenged. Not just, but completely INSANE. This explains his kindness towards her (Seriously, do YOU treat mentally challenged people like you would treat a normal person? I think not).

Also, he knows she was getting bullied by her peers at school and knew she wouldn't come. Even though she wasn't insane (or mentally challenged even), he wanted to make her feel "normal" (which she already was) by getting her to go to the graduation.

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Well that ends that. If you read everything word for word, I congratulate you! However, the odds of that happening is 0.1/10000^∞

[–] dark_creature 16 years ago

Well, I have to disagree with you with some points.
Xiao Yu never died before the whiteout scene... so, when Jay visited Xiao Yu's house for the first time, and Xiao Yu's mother tells him that she was sick and sleeping upstairs and have quit school, there was a shot from upstairs watching Jay leave on his bike, who might that be? Can't be Xiao Yu's mother, because by that time she would be only closing the front door. Theory goes that the person that was looking out of the window then was the 37 Year old Xiao Yu. Makes sense.

When he visited for the second time after gratuation at the end of the movie, the states of Xiao Yu's room suggested that the room hadn't been lived in for a long time, but because she was appearing in two time dimensions, she was messing up the past, therefore, altering her mother's memory in the present (Jay time/20 years later). I am not so sure why the record was still playing in the room when it's been obviously deserted for a good while, perhaps it had never been stopped?

And... I also think that 37 year old Xiao Yu taught Jay's dad to play the piano... didn't he play the piano in a scene, and Jay asked him who taught him? His dad went: none of your business... o.O

Humans are destroyers of the worlds.
Humans shall destroy them selves in the end.

[–] VictoriaChiao 16 years ago

What I gathered from the movie was this: Jay had played the peice and traveled back in time, before Xiao Yu had found the music. She had smiled politely as anybody would do to some new student showing up at your classroom door.

Also, I was wondering if at Xiao Yu's time, anybody except her could see Jay? Technically, this should be no, but then everybody will still think shes crazy.

I noticed the movie didnt make sense in some parts. When Xiao Yu and Jay were playing piano together at the old room once, a teacher had come in and Xiao Yu hid. He had said that he heard two people playing, which is not possible because Xiao Yu would only exist to Jay. The teacher had heard her make the noise in the cupboard, and had opened the door to find her hiding there. He had told them to concentrate. Does this only make no sense to me?

[–] sui-ma-fan 16 years ago

"I noticed the movie didnt make sense in some parts. When Xiao Yu and Jay were playing piano together at the old room once, a teacher had come in and Xiao Yu hid. He had said that he heard two people playing, which is not possible because Xiao Yu would only exist to Jay. The teacher had heard her make the noise in the cupboard, and had opened the door to find her hiding there. He had told them to concentrate. Does this only make no sense to me?"

I think this is where the "Secret" rule comes in play again. Since the first person Xiao Yu saw was Jay, which means only Jay can see (and hear) Xiao Yu talk, right? But that doesnt meant she cant make a sound (i.e: Her playing a piano duet with Jay and how she accidentally made a noice in the cupboard).

So its true that apart from the person she first sees, no one else can hear her speak. BUT! Maybe they can only hear her actions? (footsteps, etc?)

It would've been pretty scary if, say, Jay was the only person who could see Xiao Yu, but if the teacher comes in, and sees some notes playing on their own!

[–] loccomotive2000 16 years ago

"The teacher had heard her make the noise in the cupboard, and had opened the door to find her hiding there. He had told them to concentrate. Does this only make no sense to me?"

I'm not sure if the subbed or dubbed version is any different, but from the chinese version I saw the teacher never once mentioned he saw xiao yu in person. What he said was along the lines of "You students are always doing this" or something like that. Hence, nothing to be confused about; he didn't see her, just heard.

I love the play of words and dialogue in this movie

[–] Johnny_depp_obsessed 16 years ago

The reason the teacher said "You students are always doing this" is because (if I remember correctly) sombody (most likely the 2 trouble-makers) wrote something in the cupboard/closet where Xiao Yu was hiding and he read the words without seeing Xiao Yu.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dain_sj 12 years ago

to simplify this ending, the piano is already destroyed in the future. even if Lun want to go back to his time, he can't. which means the 'magic' of the piano is also destroyed, therefore everyone is able to see him already... simple as that..