‘Aporia’ Review: Killing Time

Even probably the most informal shopper of science fiction can let you know that tinkering with the previous, nonetheless commendable the explanation, is a idiot’s recreation. This could also be news to the three adults on the middle of Jared Moshé’s movie “Aporia,” a deeply foolish time-travel weepie buoyed solely by the soapy heat of its performances.

Ever since Sophie (Judy Greer) misplaced her husband, Mal (Edi Gathegi), to a drunken driver eight months earlier, she and her preteen daughter (Faithe Herman) have been struggling. Enter Mal’s finest pal, Jabir (Payman Maadi), a physicist and refugee from a dictatorship that killed his whole household. Obsessed with previous wrongs, Jabir has been quietly constructing a time machine, a contraption that appears like a janky iron lung. The machine doesn’t truly go wherever, however (and don’t quote me on this) can ship particles again in time to homicide your chosen sufferer. Someone like, say, the motive force who killed Mal.

But softhearted Sophie, unable to take pleasure in a profitable assassination, can’t resist befriending the erstwhile driver’s widow and daughter, solely to unearth a second villain. Every erasure, after all, calls for a number of minutes of soul-searching and causes surprising, more and more troubling repercussions; possibly only one extra homicide will set all the things proper?

Filled with idiotic habits and logical ellipses (and a beyond-infuriating ending), “Aporia,” which suggests an expression of doubt or uncertainty, greater than justifies its title. The movie’s most beguiling thought, although, is its insistence on the importance of shared recollections: When time resets, solely Sophie and Jabir keep in mind the unique timeline, leaving them excluded from an alternate previous — even their very own.

Aporia
Rated R for forgivable language and unforgivable habits. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters.