This article discusses the ending of the Amazon original film Homestay (2022) and will contain spoilers.
Ready Steady Cut film critic M.N. Miller calls Homestay (2022), “A reflective young adult film that is frustratingly inert with source material’s deeper themes.“
A lost soul named Blank suddenly finds a home and brings a deceased teenager back to life. When a soul does this to reincarnate or leave this world forever, it is called a Homestay. That teenager is named Makoto (played by Kento Nagao). He is awakened in the morgue right before he is about to be examined. Suddenly, a doctor rips open a bag of what appears to be saline when the whole room slows to a frozen still. Except, now, the doctor is talking to him while suspended droplets hang in the air.
Makoto, per his parents, was in the hospital because of a cold that became pneumonia. The guardian soul playing the doctor has a deal for him. He has 100 days to find out how his current flesh suit passed on. He will have a second life as the young man, reincarnated if he does. If not, he will face a permanent death. As the days draw closer, he meets several people taken over by the guardian. A nurse, taxi driver, art teacher, an older woman, a man in a fancy car, and even a cute child were playing jump rope. He only gets three guesses in the 100 days, and if he gets three strikes, he’s dead. Makoto is also given a 100-day hourglass with purple sand to track the time.
Along the way, he finds clues to what happened to him. His brother (Ayumu Mochizuki) is angry with him. Makoto sees his sketchbook in his belongings, and Min wants to commit suicide. She should forget, he tells him. The father (Kuranosuke Sasaki) appears to have been abusive towards his son by destroying his paintbrushes. Min’s mother (Hikari Ishida) also seems to be having an affair with the restaurant’s owner she works at. In short, his family is breaking apart at the seams.
Homestay flashes back in between present-day where the soul is inside Makoto (short hair cut) and when he is on the verge of attempting suicide prior (more extended hair cut). These memories continue to pop up for him now, as the new soul is starting to remember Makoto’s memories. Soon, we see that he committed suicide after scratching out the face on all his pictures and then by swallowing a couple of bottles worth of pills.
Of course, as the memories begin to come flooding back and fuse with the Homestay, the current young man becomes more depressed. Just like Makoto before, he tried to take his own life. He insults his love interest, Akira (Anna Yamada). She leaves him, and later, he finds himself walking down a wet street on a rainy night. His mother tracks him down. He accuses her of being a fake caring mother. He then crosses the road, where a car honks its horn and lights approach. Makoto’s mother pushes him out of the way, and she is now in a coma.
Amazon original film Homestay ending explained
The end of the film has Makoto trying to save the life of Mitsuki (Rikako Yagi). After being mortified by a tape of her kissing another girl, she is on the rooftop uploaded on social media. He talks to her about overlapping colors and being her true, authentic self. Makoto offers her his hand, and he walks her off the ledge. By the end of the film, Makoto begs a guardian who takes over the body of a street musician to let Makoto’s soul take the body back. He will grant this wish, but only if Shilo can answer a mistake he made in his own life, not Makoto’s. If he can, he will grant the wish. If he doesn’t, both souls will evaporate.
He writes a letter to Makoto. As he looks over pictures, his nose starts to bleed, and he has the memory of Akira coming to him about the 100th Anniversary Mass Game Design. She tells him I know you can do it, Makoto. So, with the hourglass winding down, he draws a fireworks canvas for her. It comes to life when used inside the stadium to practice Blank’s last day in Makoto’s body. He has come to the realization the mistake was killing himself. Just when we can only presume he means the homestay soul, Blank, this soul was Makoto the entire time.
Now, the guardian shows up as the cleaner. He congratulates him on completing his journey and tells him to take care of this life. In the end, Makoto visits his mother at the hospital, who is now out of her coma.
What did you think of the ending of the Amazon original film Homestay (2022)? Comment below!
