Keith Uhlich said:
A house by a cane field, at the edge of a city. A boy lives there. An old soul, creator and destroyer—his talents are exceptional. He longs for stories, unable, for now, to tell his own. Around him, a tale unfolds: Of guns and gangsters, of redemption reneged, of space and time folding to accommodate the whims of a rogue consumed by ego. Selflessness breaks the circle; selfishness keeps it spinning. A bedtime story with infinite outcomes, yet just one way to say, "Goodnight."
Like the 'O'
in 'Once upon a time…"—
the circle of life.
This is why the movie had me in tears both times I saw it. As fascinated by the mechanics of time travel (and all its many variations) as I may be, the way folks have been obsessing on that surface-level stuff drives me a little nuts. Certainly it's fun (and it's clear Johnson thinks so too), but it misses the point, which you have so elegantly articulated here.
Thank you very much, Zack. :-)