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The Infinite Man Review: A smart, simply hilarious sci-fi adventure

One of the smartest Australian films ever made.

The Infinite Man is now available to stream at SBS On Demand. See links below.

Some movies take time to develop and The Infinite Man takes time in more ways than one. As the film begins, sad sack control freak science geek Dean (Josh McConville) is pining for Lana (Hannah Marshall), the woman he loves and apparently left him. In voiceover, Dean recalls the time when he took his girlfriend to a place where they had previously celebrated an anniversary together. When they both arrive at the once luxurious resort to find a dilapidated motel ghost town, Dean has difficulty going with the flow. In fact, it is clear that Dean’s drive to control Lana is causing the relationship to unravel. Scientist that he is, Dean has invented, for their anniversary, a machine that with the simple donning of helmets and the flick of a switch will allow them both to upload their most precious time together for storage on a hard drive. Why? So they will be able to relive their most cherished moment together, at will.

This intelligent comedy is graceful enough to deserve comparison with benchmark films Groundhog Day and Back to the Future Part II

Lana thinks it's a dopey idea and Dean’s insecurities are multiplied when his true love’s obsessive ex-Olympian, ex-boyfriend, Terry (Alex Dimitriades), shows up to reclaim Lana as his own… for the umpteenth time. Shortly after, Dean overhears Lana telling Terry (after all, who else is there?) that they now have a chance to run away together, taking the miraculous invention with them. Then, that much used title card, “One Year Later” comes up on the screen. Dean is still at the deserted motel complex. In the interim period, Dean has wallowed, schemed and tinkered with his time machine in an effort to win Lana back.

By this point, the film has been running 20 minutes and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to take much more. I found Dean grating, Terry clichéd and wasn’t sure that Lana was worth the trouble. But with the return of Lana to the motel, the first of many unexpected twists arrived. She’s possibly still involved with macho man Terry; “It’s complicated” is Lana’s only explanation. This is encouragement enough for Dean to drag her back to the motel, urging her to don the caps of his time machine so that they can relive the good time that he had planned for them to re-experience the year before. And with a flick of the switch, not only do the pair travel back in time, but the movie is transformed. From a plodding indie about a bunch of whiners, the film is magically changed into one of the smartest Australian films ever made.

As well as being transported back a year before, Dean and Lana can also see and hear what they did in all its emotional intensity. And sure enough, Terry turns up again right on cue… but when the couple from the present start to interact and mix it up with the eternal triangle of the past, the film gets funnier and is just beginning to show how clever it is. Time travel scripts are knotty by nature, but this intelligent comedy is graceful enough to deserve comparison with benchmark films Groundhog Day and Back to the Future Part II. The movie screens at MIFF (Melbourne International Film Festival), while I caught The Infinite Man at Pifan (Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festival) in South Korea, but it actually premiered at the SXSW (South by Southwest) film festival in Texas. If some savvy American producer didn’t snap up remake rights then and there in Austin, I’d be very surprised.

Unafraid of its low budget limitations, The Infinite Man makes splendid use of its three-person cast, revels in its minimalist location and yet never feels constrained. Writer/director and editor Hugh Sullivan just keeps the plot twisting, and while it is sometimes confusing (have pity on the poor reviewers who have to take notes), it keeps a tight grip on what it wants and a keen eye on where it wants to take its audience.

As Sullivan causes his characters to reflect and commune with their wiser selves, each actor does a superb job of fleshing out roles that could have remained cardboard cutouts. McConville takes up most of the screen time and is astounding in a scene where Dean becomes aware of his own hypocrisy. Marshall marbles her performance with rich nuances of humour and drama and Dimitriades shows – yet again – that he is one of the most versatile actors in Australia. Boosted by Sullivan’s grand vision, this film is not just smart, but emotionally deep in a way that seemed impossible at its beginning. Genius is an overused word in Australian film reviews, but by the end of its slim 80 minutes, The Infinite Man reveals multiple traces of that designation. I hope Hugh Sullivan has more clever tricks in his back pocket, because The Infinite Man will be a tough act to follow.