The Golden Age of science fiction (1930s-1950s) was responsible for hundreds of audacious novels and short-stories, most of which toyed heavily with narrative conventions. Case in point "All You Zombies" (1958), a short story by Robert Heinlein which dealt with the events leading to a human being simultaneously becoming its own mother, father, son and daughter. Yes, you read that correctly.
"All You Zombies" revolved around a character who was born with both male and female reproductive organs. Via a convoluted time-travel plot, this character manages to have sex with him/herself and give birth to him/herself. By the story's end, all of Heinlein's major characters are then revealed to be the same person at different stages of his/her life.
Directors Michael and Peter Spierig adapted "All You Zombies" in 2014. Though given a new, dull title - "Predestination" - the film captures well the tempo, tone and qualities of 1950s science fiction short-stories. There are no big action sequences here, no major special effects, just lots of weird twists and playful tale-telling. Throw in the coolest time-machine since "The Terminator", strong performances by Sarah Snook and Ethan Hawke, and you have a fine film.
The Golden Age of science fiction is now almost a century in our past. Despite this, the era's level of formal experimentation still surpasses most of what contemporary cinema deems "revolutionary". "Predestination", though, surpasses its source material in one respect. Heinlein's original tale used sexuality as a gimmick; a means to an end (how does one get a child to produce itself?). The Spierig's, though, thanks largely to a touching performance by Sarah Snook, have made a film that sympathises with those deemed "sexually abnormal". Their convoluted plot encapsulates the feelings and anxieties of a character whose very identity, sense of history and self (and so self-worth) has been warped. This is a character who feels abandoned, unloved, and whose only hope of intimacy is to quite literally go back in time and love him/herself.
7.9/10 – Worth one viewing. Heinlein would revisit similar material in 1970's "I Will Fear No Evil", in which a white billionaire has his brain implanted into the brain of a black women whom he then impregnates with his own frozen sperm. Seriously.
"All You Zombies" revolved around a character who was born with both male and female reproductive organs. Via a convoluted time-travel plot, this character manages to have sex with him/herself and give birth to him/herself. By the story's end, all of Heinlein's major characters are then revealed to be the same person at different stages of his/her life.
Directors Michael and Peter Spierig adapted "All You Zombies" in 2014. Though given a new, dull title - "Predestination" - the film captures well the tempo, tone and qualities of 1950s science fiction short-stories. There are no big action sequences here, no major special effects, just lots of weird twists and playful tale-telling. Throw in the coolest time-machine since "The Terminator", strong performances by Sarah Snook and Ethan Hawke, and you have a fine film.
The Golden Age of science fiction is now almost a century in our past. Despite this, the era's level of formal experimentation still surpasses most of what contemporary cinema deems "revolutionary". "Predestination", though, surpasses its source material in one respect. Heinlein's original tale used sexuality as a gimmick; a means to an end (how does one get a child to produce itself?). The Spierig's, though, thanks largely to a touching performance by Sarah Snook, have made a film that sympathises with those deemed "sexually abnormal". Their convoluted plot encapsulates the feelings and anxieties of a character whose very identity, sense of history and self (and so self-worth) has been warped. This is a character who feels abandoned, unloved, and whose only hope of intimacy is to quite literally go back in time and love him/herself.
7.9/10 – Worth one viewing. Heinlein would revisit similar material in 1970's "I Will Fear No Evil", in which a white billionaire has his brain implanted into the brain of a black women whom he then impregnates with his own frozen sperm. Seriously.