Aporia - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Aporia



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
I’m always fascinated by Well Go USA’s choices for non Asian films. While the Texas company’s mainstay will always been importing Asian cinema into the United States, they have also branched out with Russian, Ukrainian, South American, and U.S. indie films to fill in the proverbial gaps of their releases, with sometimes interesting results. Their U.S. based films can either be straight up bad, or else they introduce me to a hidden gem that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen before. Aporia looked like it could go either way from the trailers, but I was willing to give it a shot and was surprised to see that it was neither end of the spectrum. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t amazing and a hidden gem, but it had enough of each to make it strangely interesting, though understandably frustrated at the limitations of of the creative story telling.

Time travel is another one of those sticky plot points that can go either way, with most films about them having gaping holes running right through the middle of the story, or else twists and turns that make no sense, but somehow work juuuuuuuuuuust well enough to be entertaining. Aporia is no stranger to either, putting forth a ludicrous time travel trope, but using after effects and “what if’s” to flesh out a ridiculous story into something actually pretty interesting and thought provoking.

The story revolves around grieving mother/widdo Sophie (Judy Greer) and her daughter Riley (Faithe Herman) as they grieve the loss of their husband/father Mal (Edi Gathegi) who was hit and killed by a drunk driver 8 months ago. Sophie and Riley’s relationship was falling apart as both mother and daughter coped in their own unhealthy ways, and Sophie in particular was being forced to watch as the court system let her husband’s killer go in what seems like an insanely unfair situation. However, there seems to be a weird glimmer of hope in the form of Mal’s best friend (and now confidant for Sophie) Jabir (Payman Maadi) who has invented a time machine of sorts. Well, to be precise, the machine can’t travel back in time like he had original hoped, but it COULD act as a weapon through time, effectively targeting and killing someone in the past, even if it couldn’t transport someone to that time period. This means that Jabir and Sophie could target the device on Mal’s killer, eliminating him and making it so that Mal never died.

It sounds ludicrous, but somehow the machine ACTUALLY works, making it so that the last 8 months of grief never happened (at least for Riley and Mal). Sophie has her life back. Her husband back. And a new lease on life that she didn’t think was possible a day ago. Things had been altered due to the machine ever so slightly due to the fact that Mal never left, but overall life was pretty normal. But as these things go, nothing is ever a once and done. Sophie starts feeling guilt over ending the life of another human being, even though the person who killed Mal was definitely deserving of it. But after some digging she realizes that the innocent wife of said killer is now in a HORRIBLE situation, prompting her to use the machine again and fix her problems as an act of mercy. With each press of the button there are more and more varied differences throughout the timeline, putting Mal, Sophie, Riley and everyone else deeper and deeper down a rabbit hole that begins to unravel all of the simplistic good will that was used to bring Mal back in the first place.

The tropes used here by director/writer Jared Moshe are pretty well worn, and more than a bit tired if you actually look at them. Altering past events and watching the “present” get altered irreparably is not a new concept for time travel movies. It’s something that you pretty much expect at this point, and I was a bit annoyed at Moshe for going down the time travel route. It’s so beaten down at this point in cinematic history that it’s almost a no win situation. I will admit to actually enjoying the fact that he shuffled the deck of tropes around a bit, keeping us guessing a while longer, but there’s still enough well worn paths being traveled to keep this movie from being great.

Judy Greer actually gives an extremely nuanced and heartfelt performance here, probably the single best performance of her entire career. Not to say Edi and Payman give solid performances either, but she single handedly carried the entire emotional weight of the film on her shoulders, and it shows. That being said, overall this was a fun movie that while weighted down with time travel tropes, has very solid performances, and some good twists and turns to keep the watch interesting despite the trappings of your typical time traveling cliches.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Like most indie productions, this appears to be shot on Arri Alexa digital cameras and finished at a 2K digital intermediate master for the Blu-ray release, and it generally looks very good. Details are strong throughout, though it’s given that slightly yellowed parchment look for indoor shots, and over bleached and sun drenched outdoor daylight scenes. There are a few stand out shots (Such as when Mal and Sophie go visit the Grand Canyon, or the birthday party near the end) where things are brilliantly clear and bright with no filters, but otherwise it’s a pretty tan looking visual aesthetic. Black levels are good, but never great, showing a bit of banding and smeared low light shots, but they aren’t overly aggressive or obtrusive. Overall, a solid looking encode.









Audio:

Aporia is not exactly going to blow your socks off with some amazing sci-fi audio experience, but it’s still a well crafted track. The mix is very front heavy with dialog taking 75% of the film’s auditory weight up front. There’s some surround sound audio cues relating to the score as well as some mild ambient tones, but other than that, this is very VERY front heavy and an extremely talky film. Bass is very reserved and nearly nonexistent except for accentuating the score as well a screen door slamming. Overall, decently done, but this is not going to be a shock and awe type of film for audio abilities, so it is what it is.












Extras:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Behind the Scenes
• Well Go USA Trailers

Final Score: ​

Aporia was actually rather surprising. Not a bad movie by any means, I had a good time with the time travel jaunt. Moshe utilizes his limited budget well, making this “nearly” 3 person show seem bigger than it actually is, and delivering a solid finale at the end of the day. It may not be a true intellectual genius written script, but the story has some solid bones, utilizing good dialog and some interesting turns to keep you engaged. The Blu-ray looks and sounds rather good, but like usual, the anemic extras are pretty sparse. Fun watch in my personal indie loving opinion.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Judy Greer, Edi Gathegi, Payman Maadi
Directed by: Jared Moshe
Written by: Jared Moshe
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 104 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: September 12th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Never heard of this one but will check it out now after your review.

 

[Asere]

Thank you for the review. I may check it out.
Are you going to review The Exorcist 50th Anniversary Edition?

 

[Michael Scott]

Thank you for the review. I may check it out.
Are you going to review The Exorcist 50th Anniversary Edition?

just got it in hand yesterday

 

[Asere]

just got it in hand yesterday

Can't wait

 

[Asere]

Do you know when the Exorcist 50th will be up? No pressure here

 

[Michael Scott]

Do you know when the Exorcist 50th will be up? No pressure here

patience grasshopper. probably around monday or sunday