Kenneth Turan was upset that he could not smoke his cigarette outside. He has been attending Sundance since its inauguration at 1978 but has was always been distracted by the magic of the indie festival to light up his cig.
In recent years, Sundance has jump started many filmmakers careers and many films premiered here have been nominated for Best Picture for the Oscars.
He slouched back into the red leather chair and was absorbed into Ryan's monotone voice, "Time travel has not been invented but in 30 years it will be".
Ryan played the arrogant and slick young Joe well and looked like a sex symbol with his vintage Detroit jacket
He's like a James Dean. That Rebel Without A Cause look: clean-cut, sharp leather jacket paired with a cool gun: Blunderbuss.
Kenneth's favorite film—Casablanca—so far, shares similar plot lines: both protagonist start fully in self preservation.
The next scene when Seth (Paul Dano), Joe's friend and a fellow Looper who is a telekinetic, visits him in a panic. On the verge of closing his own loop, Seth's future self (Frank Brennan) warned him of a mysterious character called the Rainmaker, who overran the future crime bosses and was retiring all of the Loopers' contracts in 2074, resulting in numerous premature Looper deaths.
Ryan let his character show his true color when he allows the Gat man to take him.
Eventually, Old Joe appeared and Kenneth, half believed, that they look related but Ryan's eyes were altered a bit to look like Bruce.
One of his favorite scenes was the diner scene where Old and Young Joe clearly hate each-other.
Great Chemistry
"You know", OJ was scratching his ear, "There's another girl that works here in the weekend"
The waiter dropped off the food : steak and eggs.
"So when even we are far apart you could remember what you did" Young Joe asked.
Ryan did a phenomenal job matching Bruce Willis mannerisms, cadence, pitch, and slight New Jersey accent that even if Ryan was certainly more handsome than young Willis it was still convincing enough.
Eventually, Young Joe fell into Sara'a (Emily Blunt) barn and the tension was strong. She holds a shotgun but their relationship grows close when he tells them that Older Joe is coming to kill their kid.
There is immediate chemistry and from Kenneth's vantage point he sees Ryan visibly relaxed as he smiles to Emily and John.
It is the last scene of the movie that is the jewel of Sundance and his favorite ending to a film shown in this theatre in recent memory
Sid—the Rainmaker—telepathically moves the debris and wheat around his mom and Old Joe. Emily Blunt has tears stream down as she tells him, "It's okay baby. It's okay. Mommy loves you"
Kenneth could see people lean out their seats and put their hands on their chin.
Kenneth saw Ryan's face look down as he anticipated what happened next.
Sid calmed down and he ran away as Sara covered him as Old Joe pointed his gun towards her.
Ryan ran up—all the theatre heard was a ticking sound; people forgot to breathe—the screen turned yellow and a different timeline of Sara dying and Sid turning into the Rainmaker played out.
Ryan's cold jersey accent reverberated across the a thousand plus theatre
I'm not sure I ever heard anything as clear as this voiceover.
"I saw a mom who would die for her son. And a man who would kill for his wife. A boy angry and alone."
The cast looked towards Ryan whose face was carved in stone. The ticking sound got louder.
"A bad path l saw it. And the patch was a circle."
"Round and Round." The clock sound stopped and Kenneth could hear hear his heart.
Ryan gave a last look to Emily, a close up to the mesmerizing actor who managed to convey two opposite emotions: resignation towards fate and hate that his dreams would not come through.
He flipped his gun into his heart, "So l changed it"
The gun exploded through the speakers, "So l changed it"
Old Joe faded away as Sara ran towards Sid and hug each other.
A few college age woman students cried at the final shot: Sara tucking Sid away as he sleeps away.
The credits rolled and almost everybody was sat still.
People rose from their seats row by row until the entire theatre was standing. The sound bounced violently off the walls.
Ryan stood up and applauded the crews fantastic work.
Bruce stood up and leaned in towards Ryan, "Told you".
John Cooper approached Ryan, "Great job. You have a strong career ahead of you". He gave Rian Johnson a hug and the applause swelled up in my tipsy system, tears ran down his face.
He walked up the front stage with a microphone, "Alright, everybody. First off, congratulations. Opening with that reaction is amazing."
John continued, "l mean. Finding someone to play a younger Bruce Willis sounds tough. But you, Ryan, carried the emotional scenes as a veteran"
Ryan put his hands to his chest and slightly bowed.
The applause settled as everyone took their seats beneath the glowing screen for the Q & A.
The moderator smiled out at the packed theater.
"Okay. First question."
A hand shot up immediately near the center aisle.
"Yes, you."
"This is for Ryan. How did you capture Willis's mannerisms and voice so well?"
Ryan took the microphone, "God, you dont know—"
Rian laughed, "l thought you were asking for me."
Ryan patted the directors back, "Can you do a Bruce Willis impression."
"God no"
Ryan smiled, "Anyway", he continued, "God, you don't know how much footage of interviews and speeches that l watched of Bruce. Did you know his family come's from a small fishing village called Acton near London."
Bruce grabbed the microphone, "The blood of pirates runs through me."
l leaned in, "l mean you tried to kill a damn kid"
The audience roared with laughter. Kenneth thought to himself: damn, this fledging is charismatic.
"l actually tried not to imitate too much. l think once you start doing impressions, the performance dies. l focused more on understanding why Joe eventually becomes that version of himself" Ryan admitted.
Another hand rose instantly.
"For Rian Johnson, were you worried audiences wouldn't follow a complicated sci fi story. "
Rian smiled. "Absolutely"
"Was there any moments that l didn't feel that" he laughed. "l thought the closed loop, to be honest, goes over my head sometimes. But you know, l wanted the movie to revolve around revenge and the inescapable consequences of one's action across time. And l used this genre and time travel as tools to show that theme and l didn't want to use screen time to explain the never-ending minutiae of time travel."
The audience nodded. "You got to chose your battles carefully."
Another person asked, "For Ryan, Ryan Stone", she laughed, "What was it like for the first time you saw your face with all of this makeup."
Ryan smiled, "l mean we talked about it so many times. l asked, did it look real, like Bruce. But watching it, right now, l kind of forgot it"
Bruce chipped in, "l was better looking anyway when l was younger".
The Q & A ended and the next film, the Queen of Versailles came on, and everyone left with a good mood.
Kenneth looked at his empty notepad and smiled. He walked towards his hotel room as quickly as he could.
The next morning, a Hollywood Reporter article came out titled "Ryan Stone Second Feature Stuns Sundance":
Time travel is one of those fun and intriguing concepts that has found its way into every movie genre. Obviously there is time travel in science fiction films, but it can also be found in the horror, action, drama, comedy, and even romance genres. So there's an apparent attraction to the idea of time travel and its been explored in a variety of different ways. Therefore the real challenge for a filmmaker is to take this familiar subject and give us something new and fresh – something we haven't seen before. I'm thrilled to say that's exactly what writer and director Rian Johnson has done with his mind bending sci-fi action film "Looper".
As you can guess, "Looper" takes place in the not-to-distant future. Time travel has been realized but by the year 2074 it has been outlawed. The crime syndicates illegally use time travel as a means of executing and disposing of targets, something that has grown increasingly difficult to do in their time. That's where loopers come in. They are mob killers who execute the targets sent from the future, collect the silver bars sent with the target as their reward, and then dispose of the bodies – no mess and no connections to the mob. Loopers operate out of Kansas City in the year 2044 and are headed by a mobster named Abe (Jeff Daniels). In fact, we learn that Abe is essentially running the entire city.
Joseph Simmons (Ryan Stone) is one of Abe's most trusted loopers. He's efficient and by-the-books. But soon Joe is faced with what's called "closing the loop" – the syndicate's version of retirement. You see, the looper will be sent the future version of himself to be executed. No party or shiny plaque. Just a hefty payment in gold bars and a release from their contract. "Good-bye" and enjoy the next 30 years. As we hear in the movie, the looper job doesn't attract the most forward thinking people. Joe is surprised and unprepared when his latest target turns out to be himself only 30-years older and bald (Bruce Willis). He makes the biggest mistake a looper can make – he hesitates and old Joe jumps him, knocks him out, and then escapes. Soon young Joe has the mob hot on his trail as he's trying to "make things right" by catching up with and killing old Joe. But old Joe has a mission of his own which really turns everything on its head.
The first half of the movie focuses more on the loopers, on introducing us to Johnson's world, and setting up Ryan Stone's character. A huge part of any movie like this, especially when dealing with time travel, is creating a believability to what you're presenting. In other words, we need to buy into what we're being shown. The concept behind this Rian Johnson futuristic concoction is brilliant and a breath of fresh cinematic air. What's even more impressive is how well it's realized on screen. He doesn't overdo his futuristic landscape so I never felt too disconnected from this world. But there is some cool technology and Johnson clearly has fun with some of it including his ugly green energy dependent cars and the bad cell phone reception. But the city itself is a dirty and unpleasant place filled with poverty and drug use – just what you would expect from a mob-led city.
The second half of the movie takes a slight change in direction. Much of it takes part on a farm outside of town owned by a single mother Sara (Emily Blunt who exchanges her English accent for a country girl one) and her son Cid (Pierce Gagnon). Young Joe's search for old Joe leads him to the farm where he hopes to find shelter from the syndicate and clues to what his older self is up to. But he quickly learns that there's more to this farm family than meets the eye. These scenes add some authentic emotional punch to the film. But Johnson also uses this part of the movie to open up several new doors which add more and more layers to the already challenging story. Of course there were a couple of times where I had to stop and process what I had just seen, but I really liked these different directions and as a whole, the complex yet miraculously cohesive script is constructed with such intelligence and precision so that I never felt lost nor did I feel the material ever bogged down.
It's also worth mentioning the spectacular visuals and no-holds-barred action sequences. It doesn't take long to recognize Johnson's skill with framing shots and moving his camera. He uses several unconventional techniques which give the move a unique look. We get several close-ups where Johnson wants the expressions of his characters to tell the story. He also often times places his camera at ground level giving us the feeling we are looking up at them. This is very effective particularly during the buildup to a couple of key action scenes. Speaking of the action, it is incredibly done. It's a brutal and violent mix of sci-fi and 1980's gun-blazing action and both work extremely well. Johnson doesn't skimp on the blood but it feels right at home in this picture.
I also have to talk about acting. The performances in "Looper" are solid throughout with some being Oscar caliber in my opinion. Stone proves that he's a top Hollywood talent to look for. He reminds me of a stylish and juvenile Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause . Here he's armed with heavy makeup, a prosthetic nose, and a Bruce Willis smirk. The funny thing is he channels Willis perfectly from his slouch to his expressions, all while giving a very different performance than Willis. And speaking of Willis, he is excellent here. What stood out was the range that he shows in this performance. For instance there are scenes where he's a cranky codger, an emotional wreck, and laughs out loud funny. But there were also scenes that reminded me of John McClane from Die Hard – steadily yelling while his machine gun pumps loads of lead. Emily Blunt is fantastic as always, Jeff Daniels just eats up his lines, and Paul Dano plays the same measly, wormy character that he always plays. Then there is young Pierce Gagnon who is phenomenal. He's such a tender presence but his performance goes well beyond that standard cute kid role. He's given a lot to do and he really stands out.
I could go on and on about "Looper" but let me just sum it up by saying that it's the most ambitious and imaginative movie I've seen all year. It's smart and audacious and Rian Johnson actually pulls it all off. It's completely unpredictable and no matter how hard you try, you never catch up with it. It's always one step ahead of you. "Looper" takes the familiar device of time travel to new places through a brilliantly original concept. Johnson lays out that concept clearly for the audience. Then he takes it, shakes it, twists it, and contorts it and then challenges the audience to keep up. He dabbles in different genres and themes, examines societies, questions morality, and asks us to take it all in and process it. That's something I'm happy to do especially when the movie is this good. I look forward to Stone's future acting performances and he will play Elio in Call Me By Your Name adaptation by Luca Guadagnino.