Vanishing Point Ending Explained: Vanishing Point (消失的人) is one of those movies that make you rewind a bit because there is a lot going on at the same time: three stories getting parallel attention. The stories seem individual, but there are connecting dots which you only find out if you watch the entire 140-minute film or read this explainer.
Vanishing Point Ending Explained
There is Yan Wu, the gambler who suddenly has to deal with his father’s death; Tang Nuo, a third grader whose disappearance becomes a mystery of its own; and there is Lin, the landowner of the house Yuan Wu and his father have rented. The woman was a survivor of assault inside her own home.
At first, you watch them like three separate channels in your brain: there is Yan Wu’s story, Tang Nuo’s disappearance, and Lin’s assault, but Vanishing Point is quietly connecting those channels in the background for a completely different crossover.
Warning: Spoilers for Vanishing Point 消失的人 ahead.
What Happens to Yan Wu’s Father?
Let us start with Yan Wu because the story starts with him. Yan Wu is a gambler who is broke, and when his father dies, he finds himself in a situation he does not know how to handle and tries to hide his father’s body. His father died of natural death immediately after an argument with him over money and his “gambling issue”, while stating that even if he died, he would not give anything to his son, Yan Wu.
It is messy and desperate while equally important because Vanishing Point keeps returning to one simple idea: “everyone is hiding something”. Yan Wu did not kill his father; he was only hiding the body after he cancelled the ambulance he had called when he found that the man had died. The hiding game went on for some days.
What Happens to Tang Nuo?
Tang Nuo’s disappearance is the mystery that pulls the characters close together. The third grader disappears in the stairwell one morning while his father waits for him in the car downstairs.
The disappearance makes what looks like a straightforward missing case strange because the more the characters dig into it, the secrets of the apartments reveal themselves.
Then comes a little piece of evidence that becomes important later: Tang Nuo’s name badge. Xu Yinying, a neighbour close to Nuo, gives the badge to Nuo’s father, telling him that she found it in her father’s work uniform. She reveals it in the end because she just wanted to sort everything out and wanted everything to be right, which makes what happens later more heartbreaking.
Who is Responsible for Lin’s Assault?
Xu Zhijie, Xu Yingying’s father, is responsible for Lin’s assault. Lin was inside her own house, with no entry point when the assault happened. The major part of the film is discovering how then did such a crime happened.
Lin and A-Jun go back to the apartment, which was now rented by Yan Wu, and open the lock with the keys they had, and that is when the entire encounter happens. She finds out Uncle Yan is dead, as the fish tank he was kept in is broken in a fight between Xu Zhijie and Yan Wu. Zhijie then walks towards Lin when the police enter.
This entire episode is when she gets to know about a “WHOLE HOLE” in the house.
The Hole in the Wall
There is a large opening connecting the two houses, and suddenly the entire assault mystery makes sense. The opening was connected to the construction of the house and was known to the worker involved: Xu Zhijie.
This detail makes the twist unsettling as it brings in a sense of paranoia as well. In fact, it is later revealed that Xu Yingying started locking her room’s door after this incident and was even guilty about it.
The Movie Also Gets Sad
After all the mystery, Vanishing Point does not end with just the case-solving premise. It instead starts asking what happens to the people who have to live with the truth.
Xu Yingying’s Father Makes Her Carry the Guilt
Xu Zhijie is the criminal, but he does not behave like someone who wants to protect his daughter from the consequences; rather puts the fear of “being called a criminal’s daughter” into her. He tells her that no one would like her; people would judge her and stay away from her.
That is a horrible thing to put on your own child because she did not commit the crime and was rather the one who wanted to sort everything out.
Yingying Hears Women Talk
After she meets her father in the prison, while heading back into the building, she hears a few women calling her names; she is heartbroken. This is when suddenly both Yingying and Tang Yu hear Tang Yu’s wife confront the women and defend Yingying while also accepting that Nuo had ADHD.
She even took Yingying home without any fuss about it. Yingying was already guilty and heartbroken and wanted to mend things for a happy family, but the burden her father gave her made it all heavier.
Final Thought
Vanishing Point initially gives us three mysteries and makes us follow three stories. The film then connects the cases and puts them all under the same rug.
The most thrilling part of the story itself is the “HOLE”, but the reason the ending stays with you is not really it but the confrontations and acceptance. Lin accepts with courage that she was assaulted, while Nuo’s mother finally accepts that her son has ADHD.
The wall was what connected the crimes, but compassion is what finally connects the people, and that makes the Vanishing Point’s ending hurt a bit.
Watch Vanishing Point (消失的人) on Netflix. What are your thoughts on the film? Let us know in the comments below!
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