Playing the family card is not a privilege reserved for politicians. Directors like to play it, too.
Well, at least in Rian Johnson’s case. The director of the movie “Looper” threw the brotherhood card in his last movie, “The Brothers Bloom,” which I was touched by and shed tears because of Mark Ruffalo’s great sacrifice in protecting his brother. This time Johnson changes to a mother-son card. “Looper” was released nationally on Sept. 28 and has already earned more than 40 million dollars at the box office.
The story starts like this, “Time travel has not yet been invented but thirty years from now it will…” I am not spoiling the film. If you have watched the official trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AXwtch744A&feature=relmfu) then you will get an idea of what I am talking about. Time travel is a topic that directors never get bored with. What they don’t realize is that the audience not only gets excited by time travel, but may also be confused by it at the same time.
Looper is a kind of occupation. They are killers who kill people from the future. They keep killing until one day they kill their future selves, which is called “closing the loop.” When the loop is closed they can enjoy the rest of their lives with a tremendous amount of money. The problem with looper Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is that he fails to close his loop. This movie is telling us how Joe has struggled to make up for his mistake, and during the process how he decides on what to believe and what to do.
The movie portrayed two different characteristics of Joe through his future self and younger self, although they order exactly the same food at the diner. What they value the most has changed through the time. Facing your future self is difficult enough, let alone killing him.
Time travel is a hard theory to define. Many writers and directors have tried but loopholes are ever existing. “Looper” did no better job than “The Butterfly Effect” or “Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel” or even “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” Despite being labeled as an action-thriller movie, it achieved absolutely nothing in the thriller part.
The storyline of the film went unexpectedly and the result was in some ways surprising. Mixed feelings are raised by the movie. Questions are asked only to torture ourselves. What if you have a chance to meet the future you or the past you? What would you say to him/her? If you could change one thing in the past, what would you change?
In the end of the movie, the world is back to normal. That is all that I can tell you. The family card wins, as always. Things do change through times, but I guess there are also things that do not change. And withholding the unchanged, we will not be afraid any more.
