Trainspotting

Trainspotting (1996) shows its audience a glimpse into what life is like with a drug addiction. Ewan McGregor’s character, Mark Renton, brings forth an honest portrayal of a drug addict struggling to escape his addiction in order start a new life of sobriety.

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As I was watching the film, I was just honestly thankful that the movie came with subtitles. I had difficulty understanding the dialogue because of how thick their Scottish accents had been, but I enjoyed watching it nonetheless.

I quite liked the story and how it showed the effects of addiction not only on the person himself, but also on the people around him. It deals with problems realistically rather than in an idealistic manner. We see this when the film touched up on the topic of withdrawal because that is something that is definitely not easy to accomplish.

It seemed like the film was aiming for its audience to feel disturbed by some of the scenes. From the very start, when a heroin-deprived Renton accidentally defecates his opium suppositories and dives into the worst toilet in Scotland to retrieve it, I remember everyone in the room shrieking in disgust (with me included). I also recall watching from the gaps between my fingers as I covered my face in fear when Renton was undergoing withdrawal in his room and hallucinated the dead baby Dawn crawling towards him from the ceiling. It saddened me knowing that the guilt and fear he experienced in that scene is something that could very well be true to life for some undergoing withdrawal.

Aside from Renton, I also felt bad for some of the other characters like Tommy who, at the beginning of the film, had a good, clean, healthy lifestyle which quickly spiraled into addiction and ultimately resulted in his death. It shows just how dangerous developing a drug addiction is and it is unfortunate that someone like him met such an unfortunate demise because of the circumstances in his life.

I like how the film continues to push for Renton’s sobriety despite many relapses. Like his “friends” who somehow find their way back into his life, Renton’s addiction presents itself as a true disease which comes back at full force each time.

Frustration is something I felt all throughout the film. This mostly applies to Renton’s friend, Begbie, who’s chaotic nature always started trouble. As someone who was rooting for Renton, I found myself frustrated with how his attempts to escape his addiction were always pushed back by Begbie (and even Sick Boy). I found it even more annyoing when he continued to correspond with Diane, who manipulated him to begin with, even after he moved away from their town.

I was just glad that, at the end, Renton was able to cut all ties with the negative influences he left behind and begin a (hopefully better) life. I also felt touched when he chose to give Spud his share of the money since it gives us a sense of hope for him. We end the film with a certain optimism for change as he leaves, no longer connected to his past and on the road to sobriety.

In the end, I have still yet to decide whether this film was enjoyable for me or not. In terms of whether it is worthy of recommendation, I would most likely only recommend it to selected people who would appreciate the film as it is. It does, however, show promise in helping a person understand the effects of drug addiction, something that most people still need to figure out these days.

My Own Private Idaho

I honestly don’t know what to say about My Own Private Idaho. It was boring for me and there wasn’t any build up. It was the same from beginning to end with the ending being predictable. The only thing that was interesting for me was the fact that the main character was narcoleptic, which is unique, because I haven’t seen any movie like that. Heck, I didn’t even know what narcolepsy was until I watched this movie.

Mike Waters was a narcoleptic. He could involuntarily fall asleep anytime and anywhere regardless if he’s in the middle of the road or in the middle of his job. It comes to him during stressful moments. The vision he sees are of his mother and of a house where I assume they previously lived. This may mean [I’m assuming] that he didn’t have this condition since birth and it only started after a major stressful moment [probably when his mother left them] wherein he completely broke down to the point that he started being narcoleptic. During stressful moments, he would go back to a place of solitude and peace to calm down, which is why he sees his mother. I liked this part of the movie. Maybe I would’ve liked it more if the focus was more on his narcoleptic condition and his family instead of it focusing on his job and friends, especially Scott Favor.

Another thing I realized with narcolepsy was that it is actually very dangerous. Someone can take advantage of Mike and steal his things. Fortunately, his best friend Scott was always there whenever he needed him. He always took care of Mike when he passed out, which is probably why he fell in love with him and wanted to be with him. Since Mike was abandoned by his mother and was left to live with his alcoholic father, which is another cliche story I must say, he yearns to be with someone who he knew he could trust and count on. He wanted to be with someone who could for once show him some TLC–tender loving care.

Overall, again, it was a boring movie for me. If you make Mike a regular guy without being narcoleptic still living in poverty with a rich best friend with both of them still doing shenanigans, it would be cliche and mediocre at best. It doesn’t help the fact that Mike came from a toxic environment growing up with abandonment issues and daddy issues– it made the film more cliche. Even his confession to Scott wasn’t unique nor different regardless if it was to the same sex or not, it was still predictable. The only good and interesting that came out of this movie was Mike’s narcolepsy. It was the only part of the film that I thoroughly liked.

Futureless Things

At first glance, I’d say Futureless Things is just a simple film. There’s nothing interesting or unique about it. It’s more of like a documentary about the day to day work and encounters of different workers in a convenience store during their shifts with a really sad ending about the owner. However, if I look closely and actually focus on the subtle imagery and themes, I’d realize there’s more to it. This was hard for me because after researching about the film, it turns out most of the themes in the film were about Korean culture. So, since I’m not Korean, it wasn’t easy to get.

The main characters in the film were the clerks working for the convenience store. It is very much likely that these characters are the ones being referred to by the title as “Futureless Things”. It could be a reach but it could mean that these workers are used merely as objects or tools by the companies that own these convenience stores to work for them. They could easily be replaced by someone else who needs the job, which could explain the ‘futureless’ part. Some of the characters are even shown in the film looking or applying for other jobs, or are clearly yearning for something else and not a job as a clerk. For example, there was a guy who was practicing for his acting auditions.

Of all places, why is it set in a convenience store and not somewhere else? This is interesting because all throughout the movie, the location never changed. If the goal of the cast was to set the scene wherein everyone with different beliefs, hopes, and dreams come together to collectively present the varying culture in Korea, then a convenience store is the perfect place. Anyone and everyone can come in and out of a convenience store.

A lot of themes or issues in Korea are also presented in the film. Some of them are racism, language/(il)literacy, plastic surgery, and religious diversity. A girl, who used to live in North Korea but is now a South Korean citizen, was working as a clerk in the convenience store peacefully until one rude customer noticed her thick North Korean accent. She was harassed sexually and verbally by the said customer. He only left when she threatened to call the police. Another clerk was also presented as someone who didn’t know how to speak English. He tried so hard learning and practicing it with the customers who only found it offensive or rude. Plastic surgery was also shown through an Arabic-looking woman with a bandage on her nose. She, then, showed the clerk a picture of a South Korean girl that she wants to look like. Lastly, there was a guy who tried every single religious practice there is just to get lucky in the lottery scratch and win game. After he left, a guy who wanted to introduce the ‘right’ Jesus arrived, and then, another guy who only talked about Philosophy and nothing else.

Futureless Things was honestly a very interesting movie for me. Regardless if I understood the flow of the whole movie or the connection of each and every one of the scenes or characters, I still enjoyed focusing on the different underlying themes and issues related to the Korean culture. I’m hoping a movie like this will be made again but about the Filipino culture if there’s none yet.

Oh My Godzilla

As the first film I’ve seen from the franchise, Shin Godzilla (2016) doesn’t exactly give me the best first impression of the Godzilla movies. The quality of rendering they did on Godzilla looks so fake that he turned out looking more like a dried up raisin than an intimidating monster that’s about to destroy Japan.

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If you ask me, the scariest part of the movie wasn’t the fact that everyone was about to die, but how utterly stupid-looking the creature is as it comes our of the ocean each time, looking even uglier than it did before. The film’s effects were very disappointing, especially considering the fact that it was made in 2016. Even the CGI from the 1998 version looked better than this one.

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I’m not sure if this film was meant to be a comedy in any way, but I found myself laughing (and cringing) at some points while watching because of how cringe-y and out-of-place some scenes were. Like when the government officials were holding a press conference to deliver reassurance to the Japanese population, only for their explanation regarding the pipe bursting to be proved very wrong. They had to return to the boardroom a couple of times and even hired experts to explain the phenomenon (but they had been basically useless). I cringed at the scene which featured Godzilla shooting purple laser beams out of its back like it was some kind of nighttime laser lights show. I’m not sure if this ability is also present among other Godzilla interpretations, but for me, this made the monster and, ultimately, the movie look cheap.

I also felt like the relationship between Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Rando Yaguchi and the US President’s Special Envoy Kayoco Patterson seemed a bit forced and unnecessary.

The only good thing I could mention about this film is how it has an interesting take on the classic movie. From what I’ve heard, older Godzilla movies focus more on the monster itself while the people are simply side characters who are trying to survive the attack. Sometimes they would even pit Godzilla against another giant monster or have it defend the country it has attacked. As compared to some Hollywood versions that feature a group of very unlikely heroes to save the day, I liked the fact that this version chose to focus more on what goes on behind the scenes in the government with people who have no clue about what they’re dealing with. We see these officials going through the proper process when dealing with external, unknown threats instead of simply plunging recklessly into action. This move gives the characters in the movie a more realistic reaction wherein saving the country is done out of duty.

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In the end, this movie was… interesting, but it’s definitely not something I’d add to my list favorites or recommend to other people. In the very likely chance that they make another Godzilla movie in the future, I do hope they invest more into creating the monster to be as convincing and terrifying as any of the beasts in the Jurassic Park films.

Slow burn

The Endless (dir. Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, 2017) doesn’t immediately grip you and horrify you, but the slow burn has a great payoff and I found it so thrilling to watch. Its first few minutes were styled like a documentary, with Justin and Aaron answering questions about each other and about a death cult they escaped from ten years ago. This style wasn’t maintained until the end of the film, but the film itself gets progressively creepier and more terrifying to watch when they go back to the camp and discover its sinister secrets.

The premise of the film is that there is an entity watching over Camp Arcadia, and it really messed with my head trying to figure out what it was or the extent of what it can do. As the film went on, more surreal elements of the camp were revealed: the strange totem-like rock formations, the two moons, photographs falling from the sky, the reflective force field-like surface, and “House of the Rising Sun” on repeat. Each new element of the camp makes it more bizarre, and coupled with its residents, it really made me just want to get out of there ASAP as a viewer.

There was something really off about the members of the commune. On the surface, it seemed like they were just a group of people who have made a living for themselves and rely on each other, toying with an entity that may or may not be real. Of course, members of a supposed UFO death cult could presumably be perceived as weird, but the residents initially seemed normal in maintaining their livelihoods, albeit subjugated by the unseen entity. They even play with it, perhaps showing Justin and Aaron how it could be a friendly entity instead of a malevolent one. But no tug-of-war could convince me of the entity’s innocence nor the normality of the camp. What really threw me off were the people who acted differently, such as Smiling Dave, who was perpetually smiling (who wouldn’t find that creepy?) and “Shitty” Carl, who was always aggressively walking towards wherever and ignoring Justin when he tries to interact with him.

Turns out, “Shitty” Carl was perpetually aggressive for a reason. When the true nature of the camp was revealed, I was floored. The image itself was jarring: two Shitty Carls simultaneously talking to Justin and hanging dead in his cabin. When the concept of time loops was explained, it all made sense, how the residents never aged, the song playing over and over (which was also the most tragic time loop for me: just a mere loop of a few seconds), and I empathized with Carl’s perspective completely. This repetitive cycle of life and death was really just for the amusement of the entity, and it was a horrible trap to be in.

Aaron, on the other hand, didn’t think so. He thought this was a much better way to live than their already repetitive and mundane life back home, one that was dictated by Justin. It was more frustrating for me to see Justin try to convince Aaron to escape with him than it was to actually see them try to escape. While I could see where he was coming from, I could not imagine how his free life could be more horrible than being stuck in a time loop. In that regard, I found his mindset more annoying than pitiful. I was rooting for Justin, who was just trying to be a good brother and doing his best to take care of him.

It will take me another watch of The Endless to see if I interpreted its ending correctly, but all I can say is I was thoroughly engrossed in its world yet I never want to step foot in it. That’s how I can say this was an excellent horror film, one worth revisiting.

Before it’s too late

The threat of unemployment is suddenly apparent because graduation is approaching, and this film didn’t help ease that dread. There are so many things to be anxious about in building a livelihood for yourself, primarily making ends meet but also finding your purpose and making sure you sustain your relationships along the way. Sorry to Bother You (dir. Boots Riley, 2018) tackles these issues and more that plague the labor force, and it does it so tastefully that I was hooked the whole time. I loved how the film depicted the individuals onscreen move toward their goals and grapple with issues beyond them while never disregarding the structural forces that keep them at bay. It inspires us to act against these forces now, even if it was created in a different setting, because these oppressive forces are all-encompassing.

The main characters of the film — Cassius, Detroit, and Squeeze — were middle class people trying to make a living, and also notably Black and Asian. These traits shaped the trajectory of the film, in their pursuit of happiness and society’s reaction to their plight. In this regard, I really liked the casting choices for this film and their excellent performances. Armie Hammer will always kill it as a white capitalist scumbag that his movies almost feel sequential (Steve Lift could be a Winklevoss twin from The Social Network). I loved Lakeith Stanfield’s portrayal of Cassius Green, making him out to be someone who has never seen success in life until now and is just not ready to let it go so easily, until he comes across a groundbreaking form of evil, and he snapped out of his high. Their nuanced performances — posture, diction, facial expressions, etc. — show that even though Cassius has climbed the ranks, he is fundamentally different from Steve. Though Cassius had a definite upgrade in his lifestyle, he could not compare to the sort of greed that Steve had, one that would literally transform humanity (not for the better, but into a wholly different kind of species) just for profit. To make matters worse, this work was not regarded as a groundbreaking form of evil by the media and the government, but rather as merely groundbreaking, a scientific breakthrough.

These differences in personality were also apparent in the costume and set design of the film. I loved the details that went into the costumes and the sets, such as Detroit’s different pairs of conspicuous earrings, which supported her personality as a headstrong artist (see: her MURDER/KILL earrings). Mr. Bleep’s eye patch contributed to his mystery at the beginning. Some set pieces also caught my attention, such as the bottle within a bottle in one of the bars, and the details in the elevator (and its elaborate passcode) to the power caller floor. Pieces like these were kind of a nod to certain types of gaudiness and inventiveness that were present throughout the film. Inventiveness was also apparent in the dialogue and further developed the way characters think, such as how Diane came onto Cassius as soon as he was promoted to a power caller, how Salvador and Cassius almost got into an argument but resorted to compliments instead, the rapping segment (that honestly made me uncomfortable). These scenes, although peculiar, show who the characters’ core, but the film shows how they are also capable of change. Even so, the strongest relationships in the film handle these changes in a way I found justified.

All in all, I loved this film because it was sensitive in its treatment of grave issues like capitalism and racism, but it still managed to be entertaining to watch because of its comedy. I appreciated how it also portrayed the nuances that go into fighting for a cause, how relationships are made, broken, or mended in the process, the difficulty of fighting against the powers-that-be, and the hardships of sustaining your own life and your family’s without neglecting to push for the collective good. It’s a film that everyone should watch, before anything like equisapiens are made into a reality.

The Endless (2017)

For the most part, cults don’t usually have good or positive reputations. I think the word ‘cult’ itself can carry so much connotation that the mere mention of it in a conversation can really change the tone of it. I don’t have much of an opinion on people who live in cults because I’ve never met one, nor do I desire to. In Endless (2017), the audience is given a sneak peek into the lives of Justin and Aaron, two brothers who struggle to cope with the aftermath of escaping their group, Camp Arcadia. From the very start, we all know that the men came from a cult – the news clips, the therapy sessions and the difficulty of adjusting to seemingly normal life make it very clear. I felt bad for them for a few good minutes until Aaron suggested that they go back to visit the cult for a day. This made me root for Justin more – he was the big brother and father figure, the one that made sense, the one that remembers the cult for all its crazy UFO death obsession. I felt bad for Aaron, but I really didn’t trust his memories or his intentions.

The film itself is dark and washed out, almost like a photo that endured a couple of rounds in the washing machine. Visually, it doesn’t really scream “happy”, and nothing in it really did. When the brothers arrive at Camp Arcadia, you can’t help feel a little creeped out by how calm and happy everyone is despite, you know, them being in a UFO death cult. Despite their efforts to be welcoming and friendly, I didn’t trust a single of the camp members. I wasn’t sure of who to trust and what to believe in, and I felt like I was clenching my whole body while I was watching. The scene that really got to me was the tug of war scene. Hal explains that there’s someone standing on the ladder and holding the rope up, but we see everyone present still while Aaron pulls at it. It send shivers down my spine, and it confirmed my suspicions that something really WEIRD was going on at the camp. There were other scenes that really freaked me out – the random photos of people being left out for them to find, the two moons in the sky, the mysterious tape that Justin found in a toolbox in the lake (where he also saw a monster, by the way), – all of it is strange and creepy and definitely confirms that the whole cult is on to something. I started to doubt Justin’s memories and start believing in Aaron more, especially because he was much more open to exploring the camp and listening to the other members.

Apart from it being a cult movie, The Endless really explores human experience and how their similarities or differences shape the way we move forward with our relationships. Even though they were all kinda weird, the members of Camp Arcadia really did try their best to provide Justin and Aaron a home and a family. It’s unfortunate that they had to die and all, but their shared experiences led to the growth of the brothers’ relationship with each other. Despite Justin and Aaron butting heads throughout the movie, we see that their bond and love for each other as siblings withstands any weird time loop or crazy UFO monster. o B��]9

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Let’s face it – capitalism sucks. It holds everyone in place without much regard for whether or not they like it there. It sets us off on necessary, inescapable routines that can do more harm than good. It cleanses us of any soul and desire to keep going, because we know it doesn’t get much better unless we’re really, really lucky. These were some the thoughts that were running through my mind while watching Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You (2018). Personally, I was really excited to watch this film because I’m a big fan of Lakeith Stanfield (his portrayal of Darius in Atlanta is my fave) and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie?!?), and I love anything that pokes fun at capitalism. While it fulfilled its role as a dark comedy and social commentary on the current state of labor and class division, it turned out to be SO much more than that.

I couldn’t help but think about how smart the film was. There were so many small details that at first didn’t seem to be that big of deal, but looking at how it fit into the entire narrative became crucial parts to propel the story forward. My favorite part of the film was the utilization of the ‘white voice’ by the characters of color. Cash and everyone who wasn’t white all acknowledged how real it was, and how powerful you can be when you use it. It clearly explains how race is still a big factor in the success of a person – how mimicking the sound and behavioral patterns of a white man will move you light years ahead of any black man who sticks to his own thing. Cash recognizes this, fully embraces it and lets his desire for more take over his entire life. This happens to the other people in his life as well – Detroit uses her white voice when she’s looking to sell her art; His boss uses the white voice at work pretty much all the time; and Cash even slips into the white voice even when he’s not working. This is an all-too familiar arc for the working class and is the kind of reality they might fear, but secretly want too. Nobody really perceives fame and success as bad things. They’re not, but when you achieve it by being something you’re not, it calls into question whether you really have them.

Another part of the movie that threw a total curveball at me was the whole idea of the equisapiens. Seriously, who thinks of that? I clearly didn’t see it coming, and yet it makes so much sense to the plot. As crazy as the whole idea sounds, it fits into the narrative without making it sound impossible or a haphazard add-on to make it funny. The detail of the equisapien transformation process, the reasoning behind it and the discovery of the transformed were so well-thought out that I couldn’t doubt its legitimacy. The debates on wokers’ rights and the rallies that happened after were all too real for me. It bothered it me to know that maybe we’ve all seen this before and that we still don’t know how to fix it. The pressure of capitalism takes a toll on all of us, but we don’t really like hearing that sort of thing because we feel like there’s nothing we can do about it. Despite its title, I don’t think Sorry to Bother You is sorry at all – if anything, it demands that you listen up, pay attention and do something.

Repo Man (1984)

When you think about aliens and the government agenda, you definitely don’t assume that it’s going to involve a green glowing car, but this is exactly what happens in Alex Cox’s Repo Man (1984). The story follows Otto, a young punk that takes on a repo job while dealing with a lot of other strange occurrences along the way. A lot of what happens in this film are a bunch of coincidences patched together. It feels like a couple of different films all mashed up into one – a sci-fi crime thriller, an ode to punk rock, a satire on mindless consumerism. The whole thing manages to stay true to its rebellious spirit through characters like Otto and Bud, who refuse to deviate from their tough guy aesthetic and their hatred of conformity. This strangely connects to the way many characters of the film are obsessed with a certain ideology, and how people like Otto and Bud look down on them. The scene where Otto’s parents are glued to the television screen as a man talks about God and salvation was all too familiar for me, especially during a time when order and normalcy is being challenged. People like Otto’s parents are dedicated to being part of the power that holds things together, while people like Otto want nothing to do with it. The whole idea of the mindless existence is also pointed out – though not as obviously – throughout the film during the scenes filmed in stores. All the product labels were generic and unbranded, and yet people were still buying them. This is why repo men even exist in the first place. The idea of commodification and the entrance into a reckless, thoughtless way of consuming the things around us were all ideas that the punk rock era wanted to fight against. In a society where everything seems to be laid out, people like Otto give it the finger.

What Repo Man did differently was the way it refused to succumb to the Hollywood formula of a “good” movie – it RAN off the beaten path and embraced it without explaining to anyone why it had to. There were several parts of the film that left me scratching my head, but I let it slide because I had the feeling that nothing was going to make sense anyway. The plot itself is something I’d never even dared to imagine.

In all honesty, I didn’t enjoy watching the movie. I understand the whole plot to a certain extent, but it never felt cohesive to me at all. There weren’t many moments where I was genuinely caught up in the story, mostly because it was all way too confusing and strange for me to make any sense of it. Unlike Schizopolis – a weird a nonsensical movie that I actually enjoyed watching – Repo Man had a strange untouchable vibe made the whole nonsensical aspect of it difficult to appreciate. It felt like it was trying too hard to be cool and edgy, and not so concerned with actually giving the audience something to like. Maybe that was the whole point that I missed. There were a lot of parts that I missed, but I definitely won’t be rewatching it any time soon to figure them out.

Brothers in a Loop

The Endless (2012) is right smack in the middle of two things: one thing that I love a lot, which is science fiction, and another that I despise a lot, which is horror. Science fiction is exploratory and imaginative, as it always intrigues me on the capacity of today’s empirical information in keeping up with human’s remarkable breadth of irrational creative power. On the other hand, horror is also exploratory and imaginative; however, for me, it amplifies fears — from the little and most common ones to the deepest and darkest ones. For instance, as someone who has built her life on and around faith in God, the sinister deity in The Endless unsettled and irked me. It really left a bad taste in my mouth. Cosmic horror is a genre that is new to me and it certainly terrifies me because of the possibility that an omnipotent force can be truly malevolent instead of benevolent.

Time loops were particularly important devices in the film, as these exhibited the science fiction quality (although after Avengers Endgame, is this even still fiction?) in its manipulation of time and the horror quality in the entity that does this manipulation. The time loops in the film reminded me of the novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, wherein the characters live and relive a single day: the third of September in the year 1940. Similar to The Endless, this novel uses polaroids to visualize the era and to communicate.

Throughout the film, production design was key in telling the narrative as each time loop was accurately portrayed according to the time within which the people in the loops were trapped. For instance, Chris and Mike have a modern cabin, a film projector, a computer, and so on; thus the malevolent entity communicates with them through CDs. On the other hand, Camp Arcadia seemed to be from an older time, based on the setup of the camp, the activities of the campers, and so on; with them, the malevolent entity communicates through VHS tapes or polaroids. Lastly, the poor man trapped in the shortest loop only had a tent and a phonograph, while Shitty Carl had guns and traps; although these are implicative of what era they were originally trapped in, the film did not reveal how the entity communicated with them.

The washed-out color palette of the entire film made me think that it was made a long time ago; however, this aided in framing the timelessness of the film and the malevolent entity. In addition, most of the characters, especially those in Camp Arcadia, had plain and ordinary styles, so much so that I mistook them for not changing clothes. This costume design technique was innovative for me, as it amplified the feeling that they were stuck in a rut.

Finally, I applaud directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead for coming up with this gem and for starring in it so spectacularly. They depicted the dynamics of a real-life brother to brother relationship, despite the weirdness going around the movie. Character development was also plain to see for both of them: innocent younger brother Aaron flirted with a girl and even smoked a little, while controlling older brother Justin apologized to his brother and figuratively and literally gave the wheel to Aaron.

One final thing that bothered me was the final conversation of the brothers, which was not sufficiently tackled in class. As they sped away from the destruction of the camp brought about by the entity, Justin told Aaron to refill the gas tank. In response, Aaron said that the car’s gas tank gauge had always read empty. On screen, I saw that the flock of birds shifted direction — as they did when the brothers first arrived in the area. My first reaction to this was, “Oh no, they are in a time loop!” And until today, my views are still somewhere there: that despite the escape and all, the brothers were also stuck in a time loop — just one that is longer in time and larger in space.