Till We Meet Again (月老)

“One second is more than enough”

Rating: 3.5/5 ★★★☆☆

Story 

Till We Meet Again or Yue Lao (月老) is a movie written and directed by Giddens Ko, who brought us the classic, You Are the Apple of My Eye (2011). Till We Meet Again‘s literal translated title is Yue Lao, the name of the Chinese mythological god of love and marriage. Yue Lao is also known as the old man under the moon. The most popular Chinese drama adaptation of Yue Lao would be Ashes of Love (2018). Xia Zhi Yuan portrays Dan Zhu, the Moon Immortal, who ties red strings to prospective couples. A more recent adaptation of Yue Lao in Chinese drama would be Jing Yan Jun as Li Fu, the God of Marriage in Ms. Cupid in Love (2022). In Till We Meet Again, the red string starts with the legend of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, who could only meet once a year. The Weaver Girl’s yearning and cries turned her into a red ball of string that would bring future couples together. 

Till We Meet Again is about Ah-Lun, who gets struck by lightning and taken to the underworld. He has the choice of reincarnating into a snail or redeeming his bad karma by becoming a deity to accomplish good deeds. Ah-Lun chooses to become a love deity as he hopes to reincarnate into a human. He will receive good karma for each successful red string he ties. However, love deities work in pairs, so he connects with Pinky to bring lovers together in the human realm. While trying to get white beads (good karma), Pinky helps Ah-Lun recover his lost memories. In his hometown, Ah-Lun finds his childhood lover, Xiao Mi, and he has to find a partner to tie a red string with her. 

What worked for Till We Meet Again?

1. The writing that went in to give us the bittersweet romantic punch in the gut was well delivered. Seeing Ah-Lun’s unrelenting love for Xiao Mi was heartfelt. Ah-Lun followed Xiao Mi throughout their youth. As he finally gets her, their time together doesn’t last long. Instead, Ah-Lun has to try to tie a red string for her and get her to move on. We see an unfulfilled love that gets us yearning for there to be more to their story. 
2. What pulled it all together was the great acting from Kai Ko and Vivian Sung. They were able to show us the happiness of being together, the pain of losing each other, and the regret of not loving enough. It was easy to believe that they truly loved each other even though we were only given their story through chunks of flashbacks. 
3. The Yue Lao fantasy aspect of it gives Till We Meet Again a good charm and is probably what makes it the most unique. Most afterlife-focused movies or television shows we receive from Asia are full of grim reapers since Goblin (2016). So having this nice switch of focus on Yue Lao felt fresh and fitting as the film is a romance movie. 

What didn’t work for Till We Meet Again?

1. Pinky’s love for Ah-Lun. I feel like this part was just really contrived for several plot elements. At most, I feel like Pinky appreciates Ah-Lun’s help and could have seen her start to develop feelings in the long run. However, we see these two bickering most of the time when they’re together and Ah-Lun doing two nice things for her. Also, the focus on Ah-Lun and Xiao Mi’s love made it really hard to even root for Pinky and Ah-Lun together. 
2. Horror/thriller side story that weaved into the fantasy realm. This part confused me half of the time I saw it. Once I understood the Ox Head’s motive, I questioned its relevance apart from his last few scenes. It felt like an arc that never meshed into the original plot as it was deeper, darker, and filled with vengeance and gore. This addition felt like a hot mess. All of that contrasted the bittersweet and comedic romance that was the movie’s core.
3. Yama was really hands-off during the whole movie. I understood it as letting things happen when they’re supposed to or fall into place. However, Ox Head was a variable that wasn’t supposed to break free. Yama wants to capture Ox Head and sends his lackeys to capture them. However, it feels like not enough was done to prevent Ox Head from walking about in the human realm and causing havoc. With his abilities as Yama, it felt that he could have easily done a bit more to help. Unless we loop it back into the idea of letting things fall into place. Ox Head is supposed to get his revenge, and the people involved would get their retribution. Yet, that idea overlaps with the law of not crossing the line between the two worlds.  

Themes

Love and Loss

The love deities were having a fun time trying to tie red strings onto Xiao Mi, but everyone who they tried to match her with, the string would break. These red strings didn’t try to bring two fated people together – they were trying to bring two compatible people together. Xiao Mi’s string couldn’t tie to anyone else, not because they weren’t compatible with her, but because she wasn’t ready to move on. I think this says a lot about the loss of losing someone we love. Moving on from someone requires time and Xiao Mi’s love for Ah-Lun was still strong and present. 

Good and Evil

There was a clear line between good and bad in the film, defined through the karma beads. Good things you do in life will give you good merit, earning white beads. Bad merit makes you gain the black beads. These beads lead to the idea that good people will receive good things and bad people will receive their retribution through the type of reincarnation. There was also a notation that good will triumph over evil through Ah-Lun’s appreciation and chanting towards Ox Head. 

Conclusion

I don’t shed tears often, but this one had my tear ducts lined often and through the movie. I’m sensitive to both death and dogs, which Till We Meet Again had. While the revenge aspect with the Ox Head was weirdly inserted, I guess it was necessary for the outcome of this movie. I think if they toned down the horror aspect to match the film’s mood, it would have worked better. I have to say that the acting pulled this drama together for me. I don’t think I would have felt this much for Ah-Lun or Xiao Mi if it wasn’t for the acting from Kai Ko and Vivian Sung.

Side note, Marcus Chang who plays the male lead in Lost Romance (2020) alongside Vivian Sung makes an appearance in the film as a classmate of Xiao Mi (Vivian Sung). While at the food bar that Ah-Lun works at, he tries to hop into their little study date.

If you have seen Till We Meet Again and wouldn’t mind sharing your thoughts, I’d love to read them below! 

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