Day 74/78 - Looper (2012)

When one talks about the theoretical possibilities of time travel many theories are mentioned. One of those is "the grandfather paradox” first described by Rene Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent (Future Times Three). The paradox suggests that if a time traveler went back to a time when his or her grandfather was not married and killed his or her grandfather, the time traveler would never be born and therefore not exist.

In "the Hitler’s murder paradox", if a time traveler had the chance to kill Hitler, what would the end result be? The rise of another tyrant like Hitler? A post-apocalyptic future? In Selden Edwards’ The Little Book, for example, the protagonists find themselves in Austria during Hitler’s childhood. They go to Hitler’s hometown, but find themselves unable to kill the innocent boy on his way to school even though they know his future.

I have always been fascinated by authors’ views of history and time travel. Think of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol or H.G. Well’s The Time Machine. I really like Jack Finney’s two novels which deal with time travel called Time and Again and FromTime to Time, which suggest one can travel back and make changes, some subtle, some great. Film makers have the same fascination with the subject, ranging from works like La jetée, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Berkley Square, DonnieDarko, Field of Dreams, Brigadoon, The Portrait of Jenny, and Somewhere in Time.

Director/writer Rian Johnson (Brick) brilliantly ponders the fabric of historical time and the time traveler in Looper.

Johnson creates a sobering but fascinating future in Looper. In a dystopian future of 2072, where the world is filled with poverty and homeless and feels a lot like today, time travel has been invented, but its use is illegal. Only mobs of the future use time travel to get rid of their targets. They send them back to the present, along with payment in form of silver bars strapped to their backs. Hired assassins called loopers kill these mob hits from the future and dispose of their bodies in the present, so no bodies can be found. Occasionally, the person sent back is the future self of the looper. When he kills him, known as closing the loop, he has 30 years left to enjoy the gold bricks strapped to the hit’s back. If the looper doesn't kill his mark, known as letting him run, Abe (Jeff Daniels) the present gang leader (from the future) can exact his punishment many ways—the most gruesome being maiming the present day looper, which we witness in one very grotesque sequence.

Joe (played behind high tech prosthetic makeup by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a present day punk looper, a junkie whose aimless life consisting of killing loops, getting high, having sex and planning for a future in France. One of his friends lets his own loop run and then seeks Joe’s protection. Abe gives him a choice. Give up half of the fortune he has been amassing or give up his friend. Joe chooses to give up the friend, and that choice seals his future.

When the future "Old Joe" suddenly appears (in the form of Bruce Willis), Joe is so stunned that he is unable stop him running. The film shows us both the life he will have, and why future Joe is so intent on changing the present.

Ultimately, the film becomes a thrilling chase where the mob wants to hit Joe and stop Old Joe. Old Joe knows that the mob is run by a mysterious leader called The Rainbow Man who is the one suddenly responsible for all the loops being closed. He intends to find Rainbow Man who in the present is a child and kill him (a variation of the Hitler Paradox). Cocky present-Joe wants to find past-Joe and kill him so that he can live his life (a variation of the Grandfather paradox).

This is a film about discovery, so don't let people tell you too much about it. Allow a great filmmaker to tell his story in his own way. Several times in the film I delighted to hear the collective reaction of the audience to the special effects and the story twists. They loved it. I loved it.

Run to see the film.

Looper (2012) *****

Day 67/71 - Uncertainty (2009)

Uncertainty (directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel) begins with Kate (Lynn Collins) and Bobby (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) on Brooklyn Bridge debating which way they should go. After flipping a coin, they run opposite ways and two separate stories begin and are intertwined: Yellow and Green.

In Yellow, the couple takes a cab and finds a cellphone. Rather than giving it to the cab driver, the Bobby decides to call numbers on the phone trying to find the owner. After agreeing to give the phone to the man he assumes owns the phone, the couple watch him being gunned down. Quickly the story becomes a chase, with “them” tracking the couple as they try to escape in New York. When they decide to sell the phone back to the person claiming to be the real owner, the stakes get even deadlier.

In Green, filled with green elements, the couple are going to a 4^th of July celebration at her parents’ house. As they drive there in their green van, they find a dog which they stop and rescue. While we learn about their relationship and her family, they create and post signs for the lost dog’s owner. Kate is newly pregnant and the two discuss what direction their relationship must take, all the time taking care of their new responsibility, the dog. There are secrets Kate keeps that I won’t reveal, but they certainly complicate the couple’s dilemma.

The two stories mirror each other and sometimes make reference to each other. An obvious example in Yellow occurs when they emerge from a movie which has a sign announcing “Stray Dog,” “Rashomon” and “High and Low.” Later, they run through a crowd of students on a field trip who all wear green tee--shirts.

Both works feel highly improvised, and according to imdb, the original script contained no dialog. It was all created by the actors as they rehearsed with the director. Lynn Collins and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are both personable actors who respond well to each other and who we end up caring about. The pacing on the two stories differs. Green is very slow and introspective and yellow matches the chase.

Uncertainty (2009) ****

Day 65/69 - Brick (2005)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the busiest and most personable Indie actors working today. Lately, I've been checking out some of his varied work. In 2005, he scored big as Brendan in Rian Johnson’s Brick. 

The film could be called high school film noir, centering on a high school loner trying to solve the murder of his ex-girlfriend.

The movie follows the classic film noir characteristics:  a mood of alienation and corruption, isolation of characters in an urban setting, a murder to solve, a conflicted male protagonist facing a peril he may not understand, a woman who can’t be trusted, a twist ending, harsh lighting with strong shadows, sparse of unintelligible dialog, concentration on distorted objects in a frame.

Added to these is the concentration on the high school students—only three adult characters appear in the film. Brendan’s home and parents are nonexistent. The only mother-figure in the film constantly is seen serving juice to her drug-dealer son (Lukas Haas) and his minions. The law figure is a high school assistant vice-principal who serves the function of the police, and to whom Brendan tells his secrets.

Some fun facts from the imdb website:

• Brendan at one point instructs Laura (Nora Zehetner) to give him a distinct car honk—long, short, long, short. It’s the same instructions that Sam Spade gives Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon.

• When Brendan talks with Assistant V.P. Trueman, he refers to a teacher “Kasprzyk,” as being “tough but fair.” She is a real English teacher who teaches at San Clemente High School where writer/director Johnson attended and where the film was shot.

• The film, according to The New Yorker review, was edited on a home computer.

• Lukas Haas’ caped costume and cane were based on Jonathan Frid’s costume in the 1960s tv cult classic, Dark Shadows.

During the film, Brendan travels through the strata of high school social life with the druggies, the drama kids, the drug pushers, the geeks, acting in some ways as Dante and Virgil going through the levels of hell. It ends up being a fun trip.

Brick (2005) ****

Day 16/17 - The Dark Knight Rises

Batman is a man of his time period. In fact, as the movie says, the point of Batman is he could be anyone—there is a hero in all of us.

Each incarnation of Batman since his creation in 1939 by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger has reflected the views and concerns of the world in which he was lives. He has reflected the pop culture of the 1960s and gone into “dark mode” with the graphic novels of the 1980s and 1990s. This latest incarnation reflects our present struggle of today’s wealthy versus “the rest of us”—with Bruce Wayne losing his wealth in a revolution that comes out of nowhere.

One of the delights of Nolan’s intelligent script is his “quoting” Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities plot. As in Dickens, the people rise up in revolt and the world of the wealthy vs the poor is turned upside down. Catwoman Silena Kyle (Hathaway) even warns Bruce Wayne: “You think this can last? There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."

One friend’s capsule view of the film was “lots of bang boom.” Ironic, isn't it, since Batman wants to do it all without guns. Certainly there are some loud and spectacular special effects, such as the bombing of Gotham’s bridges and subway, leading to an entire football field disappearing as a player runs for a touch-down. [Was that an intention or unintentional quote of the football stadium scene in The Sum of All Fears (2002), also starring Morgan Freeman?] But the sweep of all the various fight scenes was mesmerizing.

Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010) is one of my favorite films. He peoples his scripts with talented actors who seem to be part of a Christopher Nolan repertory company: Tom Hardy, Joseph  Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, and Cillian Murphy (acting as Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, the judge giving the choice of exile or death). Added to these actors are Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Modine, and Liam Neeson (briefly).

While Christian Bale makes an admirable Batman/Bruce Wayne, I found myself drawn to Anne Hathaway who remained often the person I watched. Her intelligent and likeable performance gives depth to the usual Catwoman character. Plus, being a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I also found him growing as adventure hero.

The strength of the acting and the intelligence of the script can be seen by the response many of my friends had to the ending—tears and smiles. When everyone raves about a film, it has to be a great communal experience. Should you see? Today.

The Rise of the Dark Knight (2012) *****