This movie is about second chances. It's about making things right when you're given another chance, something we are all dying to get at some point in our lives. And the movie sure gave a bunch of stories about this.
A second chance for a daughter to reach out one last time to her dying father. A second chance for a couple breaking up due to each other's demanding lives to patch things up. A second chance for a single mother to let her young daughter have a social life. A second chance for a guy who hates New Year's celebrations so much to find the beauty in them, and to find true love. A second chance for an ousted engineer to gain his job back. A second chance for two strangers who met last New Year's eve to see if their love was meant to be. A second chance for two mothers to forego the competition for reward money and bring their newborns into this world safely. A second chance for a female nurse to catch a moment with her soldier boyfriend before he was being sent to battlefield, be it only through a webcam. A second chance for a young man to fulfill a stranger's ten New Year's resolutions. A second chance for a man dying with disease to see the ball drop in Times Square one final time.
After all, isn't it what New Year's is all about? We get another chance at fixing things we messed up last year, at fulfilling last year's resolutions that are still on our list, at improving ourselves for the better, and at reconnecting with the most important people in our lives.
All the stories above are weaved together beautifully into one magnificent movie, to show that despite their individual problems, they are all intertwined in a web of mankind (or the people of New York City, in this case) that collectively celebrate the coming of the New Year. And when the clock strikes midnight, when the Times Square ball hits its base, when everything becomes right, and when gorgeous Lea Michele performs the most beautiful rendition of "Auld Lang Syne", I can't help but to shed a few tears in remembrance of departed family members that can no longer share this joyous moment. Of all the memories that the departing year has left me with. Of all the new possibilities that the new year will bring.
And that's when I'm glad that I was watching this movie alone in a darkened theater room. No one should see a grown man cry, after all....
Happy New Year 2013 to each and every one of you!
