Imagine your future self returning to the past with the benefit of hindsight to have another go at getting it right.
Filmed in outback South Australia, this fascinating movie poses a number of questions about life and relationships, asking: “Are we crazy to think we could be happy?”
This simple question drives Dean to distraction, after his efforts to deliver the most poignant anniversary celebration don’t go to plan. But Dean (Josh McConville, from Tim Winton’s The Turning) is nothing if not inventive, and sets out to find the perfect blueprint to please his girlfriend Lana (Hannah Marshall, Packed to the Rafters) in this offbeat romantic comedy.
The Infinite Man is set in a deserted apartment block, an effective backdrop for the introspection and outlandish experiments that follow. Dean turns his attention to his makeshift laboratory and pours all hope into a time-travel machine designed to take him back to the past so he can reinvent the future.
While the theory holds great expectations, the reality of repeating the past and expecting a different outcome proves rather challenging. Dean dives into the deep end attempting to rewind, review and edit his life like a tape recording. And to complicate matters, he faces madness and mayhem with Lana’s ex-partner Terry (Alex Dimitriades).
Dean’s view of the past becomes distorted by fear, doubt and despair, and in his desperation to “get it right”, he enters a continual loop of re-creating the same patterns. What began as conceptually intriguing serves to address bigger-picture perspectives on life, illusion, obsession and control.
The irony and mastery of this film is implicit in the philosophy that trying to change the past complicates things and perpetuates instability and dissatisfaction.
Adelaide feature director Hugh Sullivan supplies all the right ingredients to attract a broad audience, from computer geeks to romance and comedy lovers alike.
The infinite Man reveals many layers of the human psyche beneath its quirky exterior, with an almost comic-strip approach to storytelling. Through keen insight and outside-the-square delivery, the film explores the notion that living in the past erodes the quality of the life we have now, and while we seek approval and connection with others, it is ultimately the relationship we have with ourselves that calls for the greatest level of investigation.
