This movie in one word: thoughtful.
Each detail of the movie, every conversation, has hints and meaning laced into it. I'm convinced any questions you have are answered somewhere in the movie. There may not be a monolog at the end to explain it to you, and that's part of the beauty. You get to discover the answers yourself. Or from me, if you read ahead.
Spoilers follow.
My interpretation of the ending:
The two brothers have been stuck in the loop. A 10 year + long loop. But in this loop, the one we witness, they break free. They have finally discovered the ending that the entity in the sky wanted to see.
Evidence:
1. Pedophile: Anna and Aaron have a flirtatious undertone throughout the movie. Justin tells Aaron at one point that Anna would "make eyes" at Aaron as a child, and he then goes on to call her a pedophile.
Is this scene just pointless banter between brothers? No. This is a clue. Why would Anna make eyes at Aaron as a child? Not because she was a pedophile, but because she had been with him in a prior loop as an adult.
2. The gun nut tweaker painting: Lizzy, the escaped mental health patient, is painting a picture of a man holding his arms out toward either side, guns in hand. She calls him the gun nut tweaker. She used to watch him on her trips from the psych ward.
We initially think the gun nut tweaker is the drug addict that Mike is trying to get sober. But after Justin delivers the gun for the angry 3 hour loop man, we see him replicate this exact picture. The angry man has his arms out, gun in one hand, his fingers in the shape of a gun on the other, before he kills himself.
How would Lizzy have painted this picture? How would she have seen this scene? She can't tell the future, the only way she would know that image is if she had seen it in the past. And the only way that would have happened in the past is if this was not Justin's first time bringing him a gun, and thus not his first loop.
3. The projection screen: After Justin and Aaron meet at the trailer, they walk off. The camera pans to a projection screen that shows them walking off, and then shows it again, and again. I believe this is showing their prior loops, the multiple times they have repeated the same actions.
4. Car battery / camcorder: In order for Aaron and Justin to die in their loop, they had to return to it. They receive a video from the cult, that no one seems to have sent. This leads me to believe that the thing in the sky is the one who sent it, calling them back to complete their loop. Even when outside the camp, they were making decisions that would get them back there. Aaron was supposed to buy a car battery, but instead bought a camcorder. A camcorder that allowed him to watch the video, the video that brought them back to the camp. He did not buy the battery, because a battery would have made it easy for Justin to leave when he was "thrown out". If he had left, he would not have completed his loop.
5. "All I ever wanted" Justin likes to call the shots. From the beginning to the end Aaron complained about how he never lets him make any decisions, how he controls their life. When Aaron says he wants to stay and Justin says okay, he's taken aback. They decide to leave together. Justin finally lets Aaron drive. "All I ever wanted was to screw up alongside you". And this time, they escape. I believe this small decision to let Aaron call the shots and take control is what made them able to escape their loop. It was the ending the entity in the sky wanted to see.
I believe all the characters can escape. It's just a matter of not time, but action. That's why Hal told the woman they would find her husband, it just might take a very long time... Hal himself is trying to escape by figuring out the equation.
When everyone sees that Justin and Aaron have finally escaped, they all smile, albeit somewhat sadly. They are happy for them, it probably gives them hope that someday they may too escape. But it is also sad, because they will never see their friends again -- friends they have known loop after loop after loop.
Each detail of the movie, every conversation, has hints and meaning laced into it. I'm convinced any questions you have are answered somewhere in the movie. There may not be a monolog at the end to explain it to you, and that's part of the beauty. You get to discover the answers yourself. Or from me, if you read ahead.
Spoilers follow.
My interpretation of the ending:
The two brothers have been stuck in the loop. A 10 year + long loop. But in this loop, the one we witness, they break free. They have finally discovered the ending that the entity in the sky wanted to see.
Evidence:
1. Pedophile: Anna and Aaron have a flirtatious undertone throughout the movie. Justin tells Aaron at one point that Anna would "make eyes" at Aaron as a child, and he then goes on to call her a pedophile.
Is this scene just pointless banter between brothers? No. This is a clue. Why would Anna make eyes at Aaron as a child? Not because she was a pedophile, but because she had been with him in a prior loop as an adult.
2. The gun nut tweaker painting: Lizzy, the escaped mental health patient, is painting a picture of a man holding his arms out toward either side, guns in hand. She calls him the gun nut tweaker. She used to watch him on her trips from the psych ward.
We initially think the gun nut tweaker is the drug addict that Mike is trying to get sober. But after Justin delivers the gun for the angry 3 hour loop man, we see him replicate this exact picture. The angry man has his arms out, gun in one hand, his fingers in the shape of a gun on the other, before he kills himself.
How would Lizzy have painted this picture? How would she have seen this scene? She can't tell the future, the only way she would know that image is if she had seen it in the past. And the only way that would have happened in the past is if this was not Justin's first time bringing him a gun, and thus not his first loop.
3. The projection screen: After Justin and Aaron meet at the trailer, they walk off. The camera pans to a projection screen that shows them walking off, and then shows it again, and again. I believe this is showing their prior loops, the multiple times they have repeated the same actions.
4. Car battery / camcorder: In order for Aaron and Justin to die in their loop, they had to return to it. They receive a video from the cult, that no one seems to have sent. This leads me to believe that the thing in the sky is the one who sent it, calling them back to complete their loop. Even when outside the camp, they were making decisions that would get them back there. Aaron was supposed to buy a car battery, but instead bought a camcorder. A camcorder that allowed him to watch the video, the video that brought them back to the camp. He did not buy the battery, because a battery would have made it easy for Justin to leave when he was "thrown out". If he had left, he would not have completed his loop.
5. "All I ever wanted" Justin likes to call the shots. From the beginning to the end Aaron complained about how he never lets him make any decisions, how he controls their life. When Aaron says he wants to stay and Justin says okay, he's taken aback. They decide to leave together. Justin finally lets Aaron drive. "All I ever wanted was to screw up alongside you". And this time, they escape. I believe this small decision to let Aaron call the shots and take control is what made them able to escape their loop. It was the ending the entity in the sky wanted to see.
I believe all the characters can escape. It's just a matter of not time, but action. That's why Hal told the woman they would find her husband, it just might take a very long time... Hal himself is trying to escape by figuring out the equation.
When everyone sees that Justin and Aaron have finally escaped, they all smile, albeit somewhat sadly. They are happy for them, it probably gives them hope that someday they may too escape. But it is also sad, because they will never see their friends again -- friends they have known loop after loop after loop.