The Infinite Man

The Infinite Man is the second Australian film this month to dabble in turning back the clock, but unlike Predestination, this debut feature from Hugh Sullivan owes more to Preston Sturges and Howard Hawks than Christopher Nolan and Robert E Heinlein. Control freak Dean (a hilarious Josh McConville) takes a scientific approach to the happiness of his girlfriend Lana (Hannah Marshall), concocting the perfect schedule for their anniversary trip to a remote lakeside motel (filmed in the eerie stillness of Woomera in South Australia). When Lana’s ex Terry (Alex Dimitriades) shows up and ruins everything, Dean attempts to put things to rights via a time-travel device; soon there are multiple versions of the characters running around with different agendas. The film’s willingness to spiral out of control makes it a cautionary companion piece to the cutesy life lessons of Richard Curtis’s About Time – one that acknowledges the masturbatory implications of temporal games when it comes to romance. Rather than sci-fi head trips, the movie is about the self-defeating nature of jealousy in relationships, with Sullivan’s facility for deadpan, screwball dialogue making it an unexpected delight.