MovieChat Forums > Looper (2012) Discussion > How did Sara know that he was a Looper?!

How did Sara know that he was a Looper?!

posted 8 years ago by bluerisk
6 replies | jump to latest

Did I miss some information given all along, or is it left completely unexlplained?

She knew right on spot about the significance of the number, and about Loppers...I'd say she could be from the future, but on the other hand they made it appear that she is in fact Cid's mother, what makes it impossible that she is from the future.

Could she be his younger sister and the daugther of Sara and Joe, sent back to protect her baby brother and lead him on the right path? For there is deep emotinal connection...and Cid's mother could have been really killed in some way.

Again, the way she describes how she arrived at home after she had received the message of her sister's death...all made up?

So, how did she know?

Ich bin kein ausgeklügelt Buch, ich bin ein Mensch mit seinem Widerspruch.
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer

[–] rainofwalrus 8 years ago

Unexplained. Perhaps unknowable.

What do we know?

a) This isn't the first iteration of middle-manager, ABE()

b) ABE() sets up shop before a single Looper() is recruited just miles from what we're led to believe is ABE()'s future boss, The Rainmaker, as a child

c) YOUNG ABE is still alive, else OLD ABE's body would vanish. Meaning at least one more iteration since YOUNG JOE's vanishing isn't vital to the paradigm. Only YOUNG ABE is necessary to reboot the entire paradigm later

* () denotes a temporal anomaly; e.g. having had traversed space/time.

Enjoy these words, for one day they'll be gone... All of them.

[–] bluerisk 8 years ago

They kill all Loopers in order to erade all tracks back to them (with all the costs and risks which go along with it - including fleeing Loopers, what is the issue of this [good/entertaining] movie), but a mere woman on a run-down farm, neraly broken, knows what a Looper is...

As plausible as the given fact that the military agencies and secret services of all global powers keep their hands off from time travel and only big crime cartels rely on it.

I get it, it is needed for the movie, and the movie is more playing with a specific idea than to create an entire and plausible universe.

Anyway: I enjoyed the movie.

Ich bin kein ausgeklügelt Buch, ich bin ein Mensch mit seinem Widerspruch.
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer

[–] rainofwalrus 8 years ago

They kill all Loopers in order to erade all tracks back to them (with all the costs and risks which go along with it - including fleeing Loopers, what is the issue of this [good/entertaining] movie), but a mere woman on a run-down farm, neraly broken, knows what a Looper is...

There are two specific red herrings disguised as plotholes in this film:

a) How Do They Kill the Chinese Wife if it is Nearly Impossible to Get Away With Murder In That Future?

b) How Can So Many Know About Loopers in the Past if Their Purpose is to Erase Data From the Future?

The brilliance of writing a time-travel film is to trick the audience up until the point they'll be rewarded on rewatch. You do this by hiding clues and red herrings that only make sense on rewatch. However, Rian Johnson (the writer/director) does this in several of his films anyway, so it was naturally applied to his temporal wobbler, "Looper."

a) Is simple, send the husband(looper) back in time and frame him for the wife's gut-shot. Or, if that doesn't work, (1) henchman does the time. It's not what you can prove; instead how well you can prove it.

b) Is simple, ERASURE from the Future has no bearing on "loose" DISCLOSURE in the Past. That is... in 30 years, "talk" of Loopers, Abe(), and/or Sara is difficult to prove. See a).

There's something else at play here... The nested truth that there are many many iterations of Abe() traveling back to make sure it all goes smoothly and to seed Future Young Abe. If this were the 1,000,000th iteration, then it would be ODD if Sara didn't know about Loopers. Given how intimately connected she is to their world.

Something/someone is seeding OLD JOE before his trip back, and his actions seed SARA and CID moving forward in any given iteration. And we know ABE() is seeding nearly everyone (Trust me, go to China). Informational accretion.

I get it, it is needed for the movie, and the movie is more playing with a specific idea than to create an entire and plausible universe.

Anyway: I enjoyed the movie.

Nothing should be plausible about a story wherein TIME TRAVEL is the driving motivator for all action.

I enjoyed it too. Time-travel is my favorite subgenre. Have you seen Timecrimes? Such a good flick.

Enjoy these words, for one day they'll be gone... All of them.

[–] MoobieLubber 8 years ago

Didn't she know because of his blunderbuss? (If you watch the film again she looks at it with a sense of realization when she's helping him on her porch through the withdrawals). Later the boy mentions his shiny shoes...

Just figured that's when she knew or had her suspicions.

And the number...

She didn't know the significance, she was just able to recognize her son's birthday and hospital number from it...that's why she even asked what it was....

[–] osualdo 8 years ago

Nothing particularly strange about it - urban legends based on true events leaked/heard.
A junkie/drunk looper bragging about it, an unexpected witness telling the tale etc.

[–] kaskait 8 years ago

The answer is in the film and there is nothing mysterious about it.

Sarah was a wild girl, a party girl. She probably spent many a night dancing at Abe's nightclub. Since we know the Loopers are not the smartest guys around and we personally see them celebrating "closing their loop" in public, I'm sure everyone who hung around their circles knew what they were.

Now the real interesting ponder, is why Joe never met Sarah during her wild days.