"My God, what kind of people are they? The look of their eyes is blank. They're thinking how not to sell themselves cheap. How to earn more, how to get paid for every breath they take. They know they were born to "be someone", to be special! They say, "You live but once." How can such people believe in anything at all?"

"Porcupine was given the essence of his true nature. Conscience and soul-searching were all invented by the mind. When he realized all that, he hanged himself."

"A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he's worth something. And if I know for sure that I'm a genius? Why write then? What the hell for?"

"Let everything that's been planned come true. Let them believe. And let them have a laugh at their passions. Because what they call passion actually is not some emotional energy, but just the friction between their souls and the outside world. And most important, let them believe in themselves. Let them be helpless like children, because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing. When a man is just born, he is weak and flexible. When he dies, he is hard and insensitive. When a tree is growing, it's tender and pliant. But when it's dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death's companions. Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win."

"Here the shortest path isn’t the simplest. The more indirect, the less risk there is."

"I’ve never met a single happy person in my life."

"Rob Jenkins as Mr. Jones"

"This is the most important moment of your life. Your sincerest desire will come true here. The desire that has made you suffer most."

"Tyler Coppin as Dr. Heinlein"

"I won’t go into your room. I won’t pour the filth of my soul on to anyone’s head."

"Noah Taylor as Mr. Robertson"

"Madeleine West as Mrs. Stapleton"

"Christopher Kirby as Agent Miles"

"Sarah Snook as The Unmarried Mother/Jane/John"

"Weirder and more contemplative than many of its time-traveling brethren, Predestination is a stylish head trip. It also marks Australian actor Snook as one to watch, as she demonstrates some serious gender-bending range."

"To try and wrap your head around the plot of Predestination can only lead to madness. Don't get me wrong: The movie itself is a trip. … Ethan Hawke, at his mesmerizing best, stars as the Temporal Agent, a time-traveler with a mission to stop future murders before they can happen. … Better that you just throw yourself into this tale and cogitate about it later. If getting stoned helps, so be it. One thing's for sure: You won't be able to take your eyes off Snook, an Aussie actress who makes whatever sex she's playing almost irrelevant. You watch her. You hear her. You believe. It's a dynamite performance. Hawke, who worked with the Spierigs on 2010's Daybreakers, gravitates to movies that don't play by the rules. Predestination sure as hell doesn't. Any frustration you feel about losing your bearings fades in face of the film's ultimate kick."

"Freya Stafford as Alice"

"Ethan Hawke as The Bartender/Temporal Agent"

"Causality nerds will have a field day with the film, especially if they don’t know the ending. (Or beginning, as it were. The plot is loopy, in the most literal sense of the word.) … The film’s true revelation, though, is Snook … Per the time-honored traditions of time-travel cinema, Predestination just wants to blow minds. But in its best moments, the ones that put Snook front and center, it threatens to break hearts instead."

"Predestination, adapted from sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 short story "—All You Zombies—" … concerns fate, free will, time-travel, a forced sex-change operation and a serial-killer manhunt. It’s impressively insane and a lot of fun. “It’s absolutely out of its mind,” says Hawke, who plays a “temporal agent” flitting through time. “I love science-fiction that’s not oriented around action or effects. Whether it’s Robert Heinlein, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, H. G. Wells or whoever... that kind of mind-bendy science-fiction where you can really attack themes in a new way. And when I read Predestination it was like: ‘What the fuck did I just read?!’” He particularly likes the fact that although the lead character is transgender, the film is not explicitly about transgender issues, it’s about all of us. “There’s something about Predestination that actually does get at identity, for me,” he says."

"Is this the first great "What the f—k" movie of the year? … As soon as the credits rolled on “Predestination,” I wanted to watch it again. It was even more of a mind-dance the second time around. … The deeper we go, the more insane the story gets, leading to one of the most bizarre endings in recent movie history. Even if you see it coming, it doesn't make it any less weird."

"Jane: Well, you know what they say about good things happening to those who wait."

"Jim Knobeloch as Dr. Belfort"

"When I got older, I realized I stood little chance of getting married, for the same reason I hadn't been adopted. I was different. A freak. A goddamn loser. ... People want to adopt a little golden-haired moron. And later on, the boys, they want big tits and pouty lips. You know, a perfect accessory."

"You better not be fucking with me."

"This is one of those films that is so filled with twists, turns and unexpected developments that even the most oblique plot discussion threatens to wander into dreaded spoiler territory. Then again, I admit that I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen going in thanks to my familiarity with the source material, Robert Heinlein's celebrated 1959 short story "—All You Zombies—", and still found myself knocked out by its startlingly effective translation from the page to the screen. I will try to keep the details to a minimum, but, trust me, the less you know going in, the better, especially considering the fact that the story deals in no small part with time travel (and all of the attending paradoxes) and that is not even close to being its most unusual aspect. … Hawke … is an actor who in recent years has more often than not been gravitating towards material that is off-beat and original — at this point, his name on a marquee pretty much guarantees that the film in question will at least be somewhat interesting. … Sarah Snook delivers a knockout performance that calls on her to perform the kind of tricky scenes that could have resulted in bad laughs throughout if handled incorrectly. Not only does she pull off her performance brilliantly throughout — there is not one moment in which she is anything less that utterly convincing and believable — I would go so far as to put her work here up against any of the current front-runners for the Best Actress Oscar."

"I've changed so much that I doubt my own mother would recognize me."

"I'm sorry if you feel deceived. But it's a mistake to think that we can change certain events. Just like you said, some things are inevitable. ... The shock will wear off, but you can take comfort in knowing that these events are happening in the correct order. The path you're on will take you to your destination."

"The snake that eats its own tail, forever and ever. I know where I come from. But where do all you zombies come from?"

"The only thing that I know for sure is that you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I miss you dreadfully."

"Christopher Stollery as The Interviewer"

"Emma Levie - Claude"

"Luke Pasqualino - Grey"

"John Hurt - Gilliam"

"Ed Harris - Wilford"

"Go Ah-sung - Yona"

"Tilda Swinton - Mason"

"Jamie Bell - Edgar"

"Octavia Spencer - Tanya"