The ending of Lost in Starlight revolved around Joo Nan-young, who survived a deadly storm on Mars and then contacted her boyfriend, Jay, to let him know how much she loved him. So, 25 years before the events of the film, Nan-young's mother, Son Ji-young, had traveled to Mars to see if organic life could thrive there and had settled in an underground facility on the planet. But a Martian earthquake killed Ji-young and the rest of her team. While Nan-young's father spent the rest of his life contacting his wife, assuming she was still alive, Nan-young became an astronaut in the hopes of reaching Mars and completing her mother's mission.
However, to be part of the crew being assembled for the final expedition, Nan-young had to prove herself by inventing a droid that could detect organic matter. Once she succeeded, she was excited about her journey. Jay wasn't so enthusiastic, especially after learning what had happened to Nan-young's mother. However, after some initial hesitation, Jay decided to support Nan-young's trip to Mars while he focused on his musical career on Earth. While their relationship was certainly tested by the distance, the environmental conditions on Mars were the real danger, as they could bring their love story to an abrupt end.
Director: Han Ji-won
Writers: Kang Hyun-joo, Han Ji-won
Stars: Kim Tae-ri, Justin H. Min, Hong Kyung
Nan-young set off to explore the surface of Mars with her trusty droid on the same day Jay was scheduled to perform on stage with his old band for the first time in years. Detecting organic life, the droid sped off, leaving Nan-young to her fate in her rover. After following it for a while, both Nan-young and the droid stopped near an underground lava cave that had supposedly been exposed by a meteorite impact. As the droid fell into the abyss at Nan-young's feet, her detector showing a high concentration of organic matter at the bottom, she had no choice but to follow it. Just when she'd already passed the point of no return, her team noticed that the tornado that was predicted to hit, well, actually hit.
Now, I should point something out: the crew captain said they had a briefing about this event the night before. Which meant Nan-young had participated in that meeting. She knew about the tornado warning, and she still risked her life. For what? I know the tornado was included to create drama and tension. However, if we remove the line about there being a briefing about this specific event, Nan-young doesn't seem like an idiot. Before leaving for the mission, she had a conversation with Jay about how selfish she was being with this expedition and promised to take care of herself after she set foot on Mars. So what happened? Did she forget, throw all caution to the wind, and run headfirst into a damn cavern? I don't know, man; that line is a load of rubbish. Anyway, one of the many tornadoes passing through the area where Nan-young was located hit the rover, sending it plummeting into the abyss, taking Nan-young with it.
She didn't die after falling to the bottom of the crevasse, but her spacesuit was severely damaged. With her oxygen levels plummeting, she had little free time, so the captain canceled a rescue mission, as it would be impossible to reach her and bring her back to their campsite. Nan-young knew this. Therefore, she tried to prolong her life by covering the cracks in her helmet with duct tape and continued following the droid, which was still searching for organic life. However, on Earth, the news was already reporting her missing. When Jay saw this, and realized that his worst fears had come true, he ran to Nan-young's father to use his makeshift Earth-Mars communication device to contact her.
At the end of Lost in Starlight, when all hope was lost, Nan-young finally stumbled upon Ji-young's work quarters. How did she survive the marsquake or the meteorite impact? I don't know. That said, apparently, that place was conducive to the development of life, as evidenced by the Amur adonis flowers Ji-young had cultivated, which allowed her to breathe even after her suit ran out of oxygen. If you don't know whether Ji-young is alive or dead, she is dead.
Nan-young hallucinated when she thought she saw her mother waking her up. The film never delved into the supernatural, so I'm ruling out the possibility that Ji-young's ghost contacted her. As for Nan-young's father's communication device, it was working. All the video messages it had transmitted into space were received by Ji-young's device. Yes, Ji-young wasn't alive to see them, but that doesn't rule out the fact that Nan-young's father had created an interplanetary communication device on his own. And thanks to that, Jay contacted Nan-young and breathed a sigh of relief that the love of his life was still alive.
Eventually, Nan-young returned to Earth and reunited with Jay in the same place where they had their first meeting. Now, what was the point of this story? What message is this film trying to convey? Well, I'm not quite sure. In Interstellar, Amelia Brand talks about how love can transcend space and time. So I guess Nan-young and Jay's love story is an extension of that feeling. No, I'm not saying that Nan-young's father didn't love Ji-young enough, which is why she didn't make it out of Mars alive. Both Nan-young and Ji-young were victims of unforeseen circumstances, and regardless of the outcome of their respective missions, the adoration in the hearts of their loved ones persevered.
I mean, one could even say that the flowers Ji-young planted increased the oxygen levels in the area where Nan-young was located, making her primarily responsible for the survival of her daughter, who was likely destined to find her way there. Furthermore, Nan-young's ambition positively influenced Jay. He was stuck in a vicious cycle of self-pity. He was too afraid to take the leap because his former bandmate, Di-a, had once betrayed him.
However, perhaps seeing Nan-young risk her life to fulfill her mother's dreams and give her father some closure (about whether Ji-young was even alive or not) prompted him to break his shackles and live out his own dream of being a great musician. The film would basically be La La Land if Mia had aspired to be an astronaut instead of an actress, and Sebastian and Mia had ended up together instead of going their separate ways and achieving success while always wondering, "What if...?" In short, if you fall in love with someone who motivates you to be the best version of yourself, and it's mutual, cherish that relationship, because it's rare. Anyway, that's my take on the ending of Lost in Starlight.
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