Every inch of Infinitum: Subject Unknown is clearly a labor of love on the part of its makers. Filmed during our ongoing health crisis, with a remote post-production process, the end credits of co-writer/director/cinematographer Matthew Butler-Hart’s film consists of fewer than two dozen names, including the actors. Indeed, with the exception of two of those actors (whose involvement may well have contributed to funding the film) and perhaps a small handful of the crew, the movie seems to have been a family affair. Butler-Hart co-wrote the film with his wife Tori, who also stars and is production designer.
It feels almost wrong, then, to report that the movie is a mess from the start, which plays the film’s hand right away and, of course, far too soon. For here are Conleth Hill and Ian McKellen, appearing in utterly thankless cameos and receiving prominent billing for what must have been a single afternoon’s work for each actor, as a pair of scientists studying the evolutionary limits of the human brain. The rest of the story follows Jane (Tori Butler-Hart) as she wakes up, gagged and tied to a chair in an attic she does not recognize, and attempts to escape to safety. Then, because the Butler-Harts seem to be making things up as they go, Jane enters a time loop of waking up in the same chair and attempting the same escape.
The screenwriters are really struggling here to sustain a thriller that is the length of a feature. One would be forgiven for thinking the film was based upon a shorter one that has been expanded, and though a bit of research came up short on that front, it is entirely possible that Butler-Hart had originally conceived of the story as a short film. There certainly isn’t enough content to excuse the number of times Jane wakes up, finds herself in that attic, attempts to (and then successfully does) escape in a car parked outside the house the attic belongs to, and goes on a search for answers. Meanwhile, we hear the doctors explain and reiterate the science of this experiment and what informs it so many times that, even though it’s easy enough to understand, it becomes a jumble of incomprehensible nonsense.
The unfortunate thing here is that the film is clearly onto something, insofar as this is a neat idea. The time-loop structure is a literal construct within the storytelling, but because everything about where this story is headed is an anticlimax, what informs that deliberate construction is both vague and frustrating. It’s vague because the Butler-Harts seem bound and determined not to answer too many questions. It’s frustrating because clearer answers might introduce some thoughtfulness to a loaded scenario in need of a connecting point to make sense of all this. What we get is ambiguity for the sake of it and some digital editing and camera tricks to indicate the film’s low budget and confined circumstances.
The movie also operates, of course, as a showcase for Butler-Hart (the actress), who gives a fittingly desperate performance that tries very hard to elevate what surrounds her. It’s good work from an actress being directed by her husband, as well as an indication of the strength of their bond. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to elevate in Infinitum: Subject Unknown, which features an intriguing premise and zero follow-through.
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