I Almost Had A Heart Attack When I Saw The Chalkboard

Its the ending that turns a pretty much mundane story into a fabulous one. Great work from the writers and even a brilliant work of direction. One of the most heart touching movies !

I actually realized the "10 years after" part and that it was 2001, but one of the scenes in the beginning kind of got me to think the attacks had already taken place, because the teacher in the politics class says something like "in the wake of terrorist attacks", or something of that kind...Weird...

So i just assumed the film was past 9/11 and completely brushed past the fact that it was spring and then summer, that school was over for Caroline and Tyler...And that 9/11 was not mentionned at all during the movie...

Anyway, that was a good movie i suppose. I'm not a big fan of the ending, that kind of has nothing to do with the story basically, but i guess life is actually like that, things are not connected until they are.
This movie kind of bummed me, i now long for a stupid comedy where everything ends up all well... :/

Me too...and then I realized, my heart sank

my heart stopped literally looking at the chalk board.

i have not felt shock like this since the usual suspects.

as a film, magnificent ending.

I was utterly clueless that that's where it was going. Glad I didn't come on this board before watching the movie. I remember when this came out a few years ago, I had wanted to see it. The thought of two traumatized people bonding intrigued me. I mentioned it to a friend and she said she hated it and didn't want to spoil why. Hate in a "noo I hate what happened" kind of way. So I figured something bad would happen, but didn't know what...the end was so suspenseful leading up to the chalkboard, too. I had this awful feeling because every cinematic clue was blaring that something awful was about to happen. I just wasn't sure what, or to who, and was secretly hoping I was reading the cues wrong.

Nope. It totally shocked me. I broke down in tears.

DAMN!!!!

I mean, I get the point. The Gandhi quote...the possibly "insignificant" things Tyler was doing in his life had long lasting impact and significance. Bringing a meaningful relationship and growth to the girlfriend, but most of all, making the dad realize he needs to be much closer to his daughter. And like the girlfriend was saying, you never know when you might die, an asteroid hit, whatever, so make the most of things.

Plus of course us getting sucked into his story/life/tribulations just to have the wind knocked out of us so hard at the end. I appreciate that...in fact I had thought of writing something like that once myself, now it's going to seem like I copied the idea. ;) Not it being 9/11 though. But anyway, yes, I do get it...victims, every single one, do have lives and people who care, entire life stories, to be snuffed so quickly by some act of violence is just awful. They're not just a number, and that one moment doesn't define their whole life. And that's how it is, no one sees something like that happening.

Anyway. Mind blown. It "got" me exactly like it was supposed to, kudos to the movie-makers.

Good movie. The ending shocked me too. What the movie is about is people living their lives, bad things happen in everyones personal lives, and things turn around for the better sometimes, and sometimes a really huge catastrophy happens, it may be crazy terrirists doing bad or the earth producing earthquakes and whatnot. This movie ending reminded all of 9/11, and not in a disrespectful way. I was gasping for air and waiting for real footage of the towers collapsing at the end of the movie, but the respect was there, the movie makers did not pump out those images the news media attempted to kill our souls with during and after 9/11, it is a million times harder to see actual documentaries, of 9/11 being replayed. This movie does no such thing. This movie shows the life of some people and shows respect regarding 9/11.

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I've only just now seen this movie for the first time. Somehow I've managed to avoid -- or forget -- anything I might have heard about this movie in the two years since it's been out.

I did NOT see that ending coming!!!!!!

I must be the most unobservant person in the universe, because while watching the rest of the movie I forgot that it's not set in the present day. I just forgot. I saw the "ten years later" subtitle after the mother was killed. But it didn't register that oh yeah, that puts us in 2001...

I didn't see any of the signs that we're in that year.

So when Pattinson's standing looking out of his dad's office windows, I thought "wow, that's a really tall building....there's nothing THAT tall in NYC...anymore..."

Then the chalkboard....and I totally, totally shouted out "OH MY GOD." I finished out the rest of the movie with my knees pulled up to my chest and my eyes as wide as saucers.

Hearing no spoilers + not noticing or remembering the time period made for a real shock at the end.

I didn't lose anyone on 9/11 but it was still a traumatizing day I'll never forget, and the end of this movie made me burst into tears all over again. I honestly never saw that last five minutes coming.

As soon as I saw him standing in the twin towers which I think is the scene right before the one you're talking about I knew exactly what was going to happen and what day it was.

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