I am interested in time. Not because it is the most valuable gift you can offer to someone or anyone, but also because it is a mystery in itself. It passes through you and leaves the same instant. Leaving behind some scent, some touch, some memories, and nostalgia.
Since Walli’s character in the book struggles with time too (not a time traveler kinda book though), I am always interested in time movies.
Following are some movies with definite spoilers:
In the movie ‘The Butterfly Effect’, Ashton Kutcher goes back again and again to get something right in past – particularly to be with the girl he loved, but he couldn’t. because every time he moved back to the present, the changes would have been messed up. He never got the love of his life even with the power over time. His final solution to back in time kills himself in his mother’s womb.
In ‘About Time’ Domhnall Gleeson had to make choices or else he could lose a loved one (his father, sister, wife, and children). He was unable to save the marriage of his sister with time traveling or cancer of his father. And a little movement between present and past could change even the face of his children – he actually lost a son because when he came back, there was a different son with different face and personality playing in his home. He had the power, but he was in the losing side of finding happiness.
Then we have Keanu Reeve’s and Sandra Bullock’s ‘The Lake House’. Two people fell in love through letters in their mailbox – same mailbox for each, as the two were living in a different time but in the same lake house. Well, these two connect and find love but with a wait of 2 years without meeting or talking – just writing. And yes, Reeve’s had to dodge death just like he dodged bullets.
In ‘Time Traveler’s Wife’ Rachel McAdams had to oversee Eric Bana, who time travelled unwillingly. He gets the love of his life through time travel, but he had to die early only to meet through time travelling later. Overall, both suffered in their quest for love with time throwing them apart and putting them together involuntarily.
In ‘Predestination’ (one of the finest ones with fine background music) Ethan Hawke travels so much in time that he becomes all of his relatives. His own mother. His own father. And his own assassin. This is a remarkable time travel movie. And the lesson is same, even time in your control is not in your control.
In ‘Source Code’ of Jake Gyllenhaal, he falls in love during the time travel. Every time, he had roughly 8 minutes to stop a bomb and to win love that he had just met and to save her too. It’s a good movie. Could have been one of the best if ending could have been relevant with the present time.
Jake Gyllenhaal has another finest movie, ‘Donnie Darko’. He had to sacrifice himself to save others and his love Jena Malone. Otherwise, she had to die. So, one of them had to die because love was destined to die.
In ‘Looper’, Joseph Gordon, who is a hitman, had to go in future to kill himself. Emily Blunt comes in and there’s a secondary love story. Ends in tragedy though. Hence, even going to future does not answer all the questions.
‘Mr. Nobody’ of Jared Leto is a remarkable movie. As long as you don’t choose, every possibility is possible. Three girls, three marriages, three lives… in parallel. Everything was hypothetical. And there was no peace or love.
In ‘Triangle’, Mellisa George gets trapped in time loop in a ship. I don’t know why but I liked that movie. Its script and execution were different and kept you on toes.
Then there is ‘Click’ of Adam Sandler. He chose to fast forward his life parts which he thought were boring. That included sex with his wife. It’s a funny movie so it had its loopholes.
Tom Cruise did two movies in this genre of time traveling, ‘Minority Report’ and ‘Edge of Tomorrow’. Edge of Tomorrow is somewhat like Source Code where a certain time period had to be played multiple times until the target is achieved.
In ‘Minority Report’, crimes were stopped before they were actually committed through time related technology. But then, there were flaws in the system. This movie was ahead of its time as it was released in 2002.
Lastly, there’s ‘Dorian Gray’ based on the book of Oscar Walide. A beautiful man stays eternally young as time stopped for him, yet the rest of the world moved as usual with time. This corrupted him and his love which ended in tragedy. The evil within grows and he becomes a slave to pleasure and sin. Eternal youth become a curse for himself, as well as society.
Now coming to the book; and our very own: Walli. Our protagonist for years without the complete story. Without the beginning. Without the perfect tragedy to end.
There won’t be time travelling in the main plot. Nothing like that. But there would be ‘snapped’. I hope the book will explain this indirectly and you will get the crux. You know, you should write that book that you always wanted to read. The perfect book of yours.
In all this time-travel movies and scripts, I am unable to manage time. Days are gone without writing a word, and then a good day comes with free flow of words. Still, target is to end it before the summer ends.
Lastly, we started this from ‘love’, which actually doesn’t exist. It’s a subjective concept. Pretty selfish. With obsessive compulsions. Lying and cheating. And zero patience.
Imagine, a Marla comes in your life. Sparked. Connected. Hence, love. Now what? Obsession? Complete control of the other? Slavery? Contract? Never-ending chemistry? How messed up this concept of love is. It’s gagging. It gets you by the neck, chokes you, suffocates you, you can’t even breathe properly, yet you can’t die.
Just pray, no one meets Marla in the straight time flow we have. Else, you have to go back in time to kill your own self. Or you have to go in the future to murder your ego and self-respect. Because Marla will choke you if you won’t succumb to her control, obsession, and selfishness. She wants all in all. every bit of you and every second of your time.
If that’s love, it’s worth avoiding. Worth burying.