Predestination, 2014 Time is on My Side.

If anybody read my last review of Soylent Green, you would know about my interest in the world of Incredibly strange films. I look for a cult movie that seems to be loved by fans, and give it a watch. I will know absolutely nothing about the film,  and just try to work it out while I am watching it. I learned something very valuable about Soylent Green. I learned that my first reaction to the film changed, once I started to talk to fans and began to learn about the background of the story. So, what do I know about Predestination? Well, I know it stars Ethan Hawke. Also, it has something to do with time-travel, and two people have told me I need to see it. Anyway, there is no time like the present, so let’s get started.

Within seconds, the film looks beautiful. The camera angles, colour grading, and cinematography, are exquisite. We begin, in a room with one bomb and two people, a bit like two girls one cup, but someone dies. There is nothing spookier than someone in bandages. Furthermore, he is lying in bed reading inspirational quotes from some sticky notes. I’m starting to notice that the character in bandages is some kind of detective, looking for someone called the fizzle bomber. The stage is set. The character in the bandages is injured, both mentally and physically. To be honest, I thought this was Deadpool for a second, as we take a view of our main characters head, very pretty. It’s nineteen-seventy, and we are in a bar in New York, with our main man, Agent Doe. In comes a customer, Sarah Snook. The customer says his name is John, a writer on a confessions page and his pen name is the young married mother? That seems pretty weird, and he starts to tell the story of when he was a little girl! I was not expecting that though, and this film is getting Incredibly strange.

John was an orphan when she was a little girl, and she always wanted some parents, and was willing to get run over by a car for them. Also, she likes a good fight as we see her fighting in a garden. These moments for a little girl called John, leaves her remarkably tough, clever, and alone. Living a miserable life can do wonders for you, as John gets invited to go to space-camp when she is older. John excels in all her tests, and manages to beat everybody up at the same time. Goodbye space-camp, hello hoover and feather duster, as she is later fired, getting a job as a cleaner. I don’t know where this film is going, and sometimes you can kind of guess, but I know nothing. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any stranger, John falls in love, and finally ends up back at the space-camp. Maybe things are on the up for John, and this is a romantic story after all? No, it’s all gone down the pan again. John now has a child, loses her job, and her boyfriend has literally left her sat on a park bench. Can John suffer anymore in life? Well, the answer is yes as someone steals her baby as well. What comes next, is a little hard to understand, so stick with me. John is told that she has the organs of both a man and a woman, but the doctor can only save her male organs! Now, we see John become the man he will always be. There is a nice close up of some snow, and John’s naked body, I’ve only just had my dinner as well. 

So, John moves to New York and starts writing, which brings him to this bar on this night. John lets the barman get a word in finally, but how can you top that story. The barman informs John that he can find the man who got him pregnant, I think? Not only that, he works for the space-camp she was fired from, and he is also a time-traveler. John agrees to travel with the barman to another time. There is no DeLorean here, only a time-travelling trumpet case, I kid you not. I am going to stop here. I can’t keep up with this film, it’s absolutely bonkers. I need to sit back and watch the rest of the film, before my head falls off. I will let you know what I think of the film next though.

First of all, I would like to say that I won’t be speaking to strangers in bars anymore. Ethan Hawke is such an underrated actor, and he was brilliant in this film. Last but not least, I’m so glad I gave up trying to write everything down as I was watching the film. I get very confused by the time concept, and I couldn’t even tell you how long you should cook a potato in the microwave after watching this film. In the movie, I noticed a book called Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. I have read that book, and I Grok it. I was very happy to hear this was a short-story by the same author. Do I like this film? Yes, it’s wonderful and I am glad I listened to those two people. Well, I’m heading to the doctors now, just to make sure I have all the right organs in my body.

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