Alichat's Ramble

Quaker Psychopaths Are The New Black September 28, 2012

For the second time this week, I found myself sitting in the theatre watching a movie with a Quaker psychopath.  Two movies, both from original scripts with an unusual yet fantastic plot, containing stellar casts, one a comedy and one a sci-fi thriller, and they both have Quaker psychopaths.  As Abby said….”What are the odds?!?  It’s like Quaker psychopaths are the new black!?”

Last night’s psychopath feature was Looper the sci-fi thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.   Gordon-Levitt and Willis portray the same character, Joe, except Gordon-Levitt is Joe in the year 2044 and Willis is  Joe from 2074. (Simply called ‘Old Joe’ in the credits)  Yes, this is a time travel movie, and yes, it’s fantastically well done!  We learn, through minimal narration, that the mob runs things in the future, and they use time travel to get rid of people.  Joe is a Looper.  It’s his job to eliminate those sent back in time.  Pop! They appear.  Boom! He kills them with his chunky blunderbuss.  Until one day, the day after he makes a hugely regrettable decision, Joe is faced with his latest kill….himself.  He hesitates for just a moment, and this allows his future self to escape.  Of course, this we all learn from the trailers, and you think that the entire movie is about Joe trying to catch and eliminate Old Joe.  But there is so much more to this stylized thriller.

In the dystopian world of Looper, the many starving and homeless on the streets, trying to survive, are juxtaposed against the excessive, drug fueled wealthy mostly made up of Loopers, former Loopers, and those that service the Loopers.  Moving through this world, we see that Joe is a greedy, self-centered, cold, lonely, and surprisingly naive man.  Determined to find (more…)