The ending of My Name is Loh Kiwan resolves around the two key issues of whether Ki-wan gains his Belgian citizenship and whether he and Mari stay together. The romantic K-Drama, written and directed by Kim Hee-jin from the novel I Met Loh Kiwan by author Cho Hae-jin, tells the story of Ki-Wan seeking citizenship in Belgium after defecting from North Korea and meeting Mari, a very different woman from himself with whom he begins to fall in love.
As the film progresses we watch a sad, pathetic Kiwan struggle to survive in a new country where he doesn’t speak the language, and fall into the hands of Mari. Mari, who has her own demons, helps Kiwan and they fall in love. Whilst the film takes a while to bring these two together, their conversations are where the film is strongest. Their chemistry on screen is undeniable — but their love is rushed.
The drama comes from Mari’s dangerous gangster employees and this feels like a lot of screen time wasted and taken away from the protagonists, who were strong enough to carry the film alone.
Mari and Kiwan’s romance blooms and blossoms in these dark times and dark shots, and through their companionship the film becomes lighter and brighter.
Towards the end, Kiwan is going to trial to not be deported, and Mari is being forced to flee the country with her boss as he’s under threat, which means her life is at stake too. Here the film takes an action-oriented turn with gun fights, and Kiwan leaves his trail to find and help Mari.
Kiwan quickly, and magically, finds Mari and a fight sequence breaks out, leaving Mari’s boss for dead. The two then flee, being chased and shot at. They seek refuge and have a heartfelt moment as they share their feelings for one another.
How does My Name is Loh Kiwan end?
Kiwan tells Mari she must leave the country and one day they will reunite and be together once again. At the airport, Kiwan and Mari say their tragically sad goodbyes, confessing their love for one another.
We cut to a montage of Kiwan working hard to gain status and make a life in Belgium. (His life appears better without Mari in it. But he’s working to make himself worthy of her and make his mother proud).
Kiwan leaves Belgium and travels to meet Mari, and together they embrace in the warm sun and the credits roll.
It’s a rather quick and slightly rushed ending. After dragging out so much character backstory this end felt far too fast. But audiences most certainly needed this happy ending after two hours of darkness and drama.
Do Kiwan and Mari stay together?
Towards the end, Mari and Kiwan are separated at the airport, as Mari needs to leave the country for her safety. They vow to be together once again and travel the world together.
At the end there is a beautiful shot of the two embracing. It’s full of color which contrasts the depressing, grim-dark cinematography we’ve had throughout the film, simply showing how both sad, lost souls have now found new life in one another.
So yes, they do get together and stay together. Their relationship wasn’t an easy beginning, and it had many hardships and gunfights, but now they seem as if they can be happy together.
Why does Kiwan travel to Belgium?
He travels after the tragic death of his mother seeking somewhere to call his home and live on his terms. He travels from countries that have very strict rules to a very unproblematic, inoffensive European country.
It’s then weird why they portray Belgium to not be the ideal place, and as quite harsh and mean. Perhaps this is just to add to his plight, but it’s never fully explored which is a shame.
Does Kiwan get his citizenship?
Eventually, yes. After his drama and plights, we eventually see Kiwan use his ID to travel and he says he wants the right to be able to leave a country whenever he wishes. So we can safely assume that he did get his citizenship and can now travel freely without fear.
What did you think of the ending of My Name is Loh Kiwan? Comment below.
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