The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things: Ending Explained

The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things on Amazon Prime is a romantic timeloop movie directed by Ian Samuels. The plot sees two individuals trapped in one day that loops infinitely. Yes, Groundhog Day, Triangle and Edge Of Tomorrow are what you are thinking, yes, this movie references these films as well. The cast has Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen in the lead roles. It’s a super-light film, less complicated than even Palm Springs and assumes you have watched plenty of timeloop flicks before. Here’s a quick plot synopsis and ending of the film The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things explained; spoilers ahead.

Contents

Here are links to the key aspects of the movie:

• – Why are they looping?
• – Plot Synopsis
• – Why does Mark plan the flight to Japan?
• – Ending Explained
• – What is the Map and 4-Dimensional Cube?
• – Plot Hole

Do take the BaTTR score for this film with a pinch of salt. The scale was specifically designed to rate time-travel movies. The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things is fundamentally not a sci-fi time-loop film in the classic sense. The loops are used as a metaphor for being stuck and not being able to move forward. Here’s a great article which references this film in the context of quantum entanglement and the 4th dimension being love.  On its own, this is a beautiful film where we see two people find each other in the otherwise maze of their repetitive lives.

The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things: Who is Jared? Why are they looping?

Margaret’s mother is dying from cancer, and Jared is the doctor treating her. Jared calls in the evening to inform Margaret that her mother is soon going to breathe her last. After she passes away, Margaret wishes that the next day would never be born. She doesn’t want to face a tomorrow without her mother.

Margaret’s destiny is to meet a boy, fall in love and be able to face tomorrow with the acceptance that her mother is no more. But at the same time, she will be with someone besides her and help her move forward.

The universe conspires to make this happen. Margaret’s wish is granted, and the last day of her mother’s life loops on her. The universe also ensures it delivers one very eligible bachelor, Mark, who co-loops with her.

The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things: Plot Synopsis

Margaret and Mark live their loops and embrace it like bosses. They have learnt well from Groundhog Day and cherish each timeloop assuming they are lone-loopers. Mark eventually runs into Margaret, who appears to have free will in the loop. After spending many timeloops looking for her, Mark finally meets Margaret to confirm that she’s a looper too.

The two of them hit it off and show each other the fantastic moments they have found on that day. They go on to make a map of every tiny little event in that town on that day. Over time Mark falls in love, but Margaret doesn’t want to commit because she afraid of ruining her relationship with the one person that is co-looping with her.

Why does Mark plan the flight to Japan?

Mark wants to exit the loop, and his idea is to get on a flight and travel to the other side of the globe across the international dateline. While initially, Margaret agrees to go with him, she bails on him at the last minute because, if it works, she loses her mom, and she’s not ready.

Mark’s theory is that by going over the dateline, he delays the change of date, which might break the looping. However, it does not work; he finds himself waking up on the same day, back on his bed. The timeloop rule seems to be 12:00 midnight wherever you are. Honestly, I would have preferred it to reset at 12:00 midnight where Margaret was; they are her loops after all.

The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things: Ending Explained

The ending of The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things shows Margaret re-creating a time-map version of Mark’s map of the city and projecting a light to reveal a 4-dimensional cube in the shadow, which is missing one corner in the cube – the pool at 7PM. She rushes there to find Mark and shares a kiss with him to complete all the tiny perfect moments of that day, thereby breaking the loop. 

Before creating the map, Margaret makes peace with the fact that her mom will pass away, and she needs to move on. She meets her mom again for the last time to say her goodbyes. When Margaret sees Mark at the pool, he tells her that he knows about her dying mother and understands why the looping can’t end. Margaret tells Mark that she’s ready to face the next day, knowing he will be beside her. They share a perfect sunset kiss, and at midnight, it begins to rain, and this time the two of them move on to the next day.

What is the Map and 4-Dimensional Cube?

First, let’s talk dimensions. Any physical object has three dimensions in space. For example, a table has a length, breadth and height. If you add time to this, you get the fourth dimension (now in spacetime). A 4-Dimensional Cube is a 3-D cube that is moving through time. But since we don’t have access to spacetime to draw this object, we can only create a projection of it in our three-dimensional space – a cube within a cube with its corners connected. And that looks like this below diagram when shown on a flat-screen which has only two dimensions:

Margaret takes her Map and ties equal length strings below each of the perfect moments. She calibrates each thread against the 24hrs of the day. Margaret then attaches a pebble to that thread based on when the perfect moment occurs (the time of the day). When she shines a light on this map with stings and stones hanging under it, the shadow forms a 4-Dimensional cube, although incomplete, there is one missing corner. The missing corner gives away both the location and time of the day, which she identifies to be the pool at 7PM.

The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things: Plot Hole

This is a timeloop film, a romantic one, yes, but a timeloop film nevertheless, which means it’s as essential to pay attention to the timeloop consistency as it is to the relationship and romance.

Mark is a wild card in the loop. He can be anywhere he chooses to be on any of the days of the looping. Unlike other perfect things, Mark’s location and actions don’t repeat at the same place and time in each loop; he has free will.

Oddly, Mark happens to be at the pool at 7PM in that specific loop in which Margaret creates the map. In any of the other timeloops, previous or next, he could have been anywhere else. In theory, Margaret would have had to visit the pool at 7PM an infinite number of times before running into Mark. But hey, the universe conspired to do so much for Margret; I suppose timing his presence at the pool was just one more such thing.