Funny how we just got finished writing about the Best Time Travel Movies Ever, and I didn’t even get to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman yet, but SXSW begins with a solid new time travel film. The Infinite Man adds a clever new dimension to fourth dimensional fiction.
Dean (Josh McConville) brings his girlfriend Lana (Hannah Marshall) to the spot of their previous anniversary in order to recreate their best romantic weekend and save their relationship. This is already a promising romantic comedy about how recreating a series of events isn’t the same as creating original happiness. When it doesn’t work, thanks in part to Lana’s ex Terry (Alex Dimitriades) showing up, Dean uses a time machine he invented to fix things.
The Infinite Man is a little bit Timecrimes-y in that every level deeper Dean only gets closer to inevitability. The added complication is that he brings Lana along, so pretty soon future Lana is interacting with past Dean and future Dean with past Lana. Sometimes intentionally and sometimes by accidentally losing one’s place in the timeline. It becomes a fun challenge to keep track of which version of Dean or Lana left the scene and which version is entering the new scene.
For his first feature, writer/director Hugh Sullivan plans an intricate loop that’s as Type A as Dean is. He’s got Lana and Dean in the same outfits in the past and future, because part of Dean’s obsession is he asks Lana to wear his favorite dress. One Dean is a little bit more ruffled than the other because of all he’s been through in the year between time jumps. There is the obligatory split screen shot, so rest assured some characters meet their past selves. As complicated as it may get, the events are inherently limited to this isolated trio. The resort Dean brings Lana back to has been abandoned in the year since their previous anniversary, convenient for an indie film constructing a complicated time loop in a controlled setting.
Of course this is the ultimate wish fulfillment. Everyone wishes they could go back and fix their old relationship. Well, except for that one ex, you know who I’m talking about. Joking aside, assuming we think the relationship went well until it ended, we wonder if we could have fixed it. It becomes a poignant metaphor for trying to control our relationships, only here the patterns of a relationship are an actual time loop. Sometimes you just want Dean to stay put with Lana, whichever Lana is there with him, and simply enjoy it but obviously it’s more fun when he keeps messing with things.
Part of Dean’s plan involves waiting an entire year to get Lana to meet him at the same hotel on their next anniversary in order to jump back to the previous year. As such, The Infinite Man touches on the mundane boredom of time travel. We get to see all the cool payoffs, but Dean and Lana actually spend the year in between waiting for things they need to address.
There is some fun to be had, as part of that time is spent exploring all the experimental sexual opportunities. We only hear them talk about that. It’s still a classy production here. The characters are funny too, with Dean’s anal desperation and Terry’s sleazy bravado. By the way, I approve the quote “anal desperation” for the marketing of The Infinite Man.
I think the movie gets three or four loops deep, but the whole point is it gets so complicated that you lose count. I did have a few remaining questions. What did Dean and Lana eat during the year they waited at an abandoned hotel? Did they do laundry? I will ask the filmmakers when I interview them at SXSW.
SXSW has done well by me for time travel. I discovered Detention at this fest, I met Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij for Sound of My Voice here and now The Infinite Man is the first movie I’m getting behind at this SXSW. Seriously, they’ve got to make Back to the Future IV this year and premiere it at SXSW next year. It’ll actually be the year 2015 and they can send someone back to the old 1985. It’ll be great. Let’s make this happen.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
