an enjoyable but unusual romantic comedy with time travel

gregking4

This is the second local production to feature time travel as a key narrative device. But unlike Predestination, the concept here is used as a plot device to kick start an enjoyable but unusual romantic comedy. Dean (Josh McConville, from The Turning, etc) is a nerdy engineer whose relationship with the more free spirited Lana ended a couple of years ago. Keen to try and make a new start Dean invites Lana back to the hotel where they once spent an idyllic holiday. But now the hotel is deserted, and the weekend begins to go badly. The unexpected arrival of the arrogant and sleazy Terry (Alex Dimitriades), Lana's former boyfriend, further ruins the mood. Dean spends the better part of the next year brooding over what went wrong. He constructs a time travel device hoping that he can revisit that weekend again and repair the relationship with Lana. But something goes awry and he finds himself trapped in a temporal loop. The presence of four other incarnations of himself, and a couple of other Lana's from the future, further complicate matters. There are only three actors on screen, playing multiple versions of themselves, and the action is confined to a single location, but somehow that doesn't seem to matter. McConville brings a nicely intense edge and a touch of self-deprecating humour to his performance as the nerdy and sad sack Dean desperate to restore his relationship with Lana. Hannah Marshall (from TV series Packed To The Rafters, etc)delivers a nicely nuanced performance as the patient Lana, while Dimitriades is wonderfully sleazy and cocky. First time filmmaker Hugh Sullivan makes the most of his limited budget, and stretches his meagre resources effectively. And I found The Infinite Man to be far more entertaining and enjoyable that Predestination, and when dealing with the paradoxes of time travel it seems to have an internal logic that works. It also seems to have more energy and humour, and likable characters.

score 7/10

gregking4 22 August 2014

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3073613/