What would you do if one of your beloved people suddenly died in an accident? Grief is a common theme in arts, cinema and literature since centuries. It can come out so differently that it appears under different names: coping mechanisms, national habits or just personal ways of living, where everyone has his own unique way to feel the pain about the loss. However, all over the globe grief has been the same and thus favorite plots of movies have always dealing with “what does it mean to lose somebody?” especially when he/she died not long ago. Aporia is another movie from this particular genre that was premiered at Fantasia 2023 but with a twist.
Jared Moshe directed and wrote Aporia during COVID-19 pandemic. August 2023 will see theaters releasing this film as Jared Moshe’s latest project. Nevertheless, these projects are currently focused on modern times settings unlike his Dead Man’s Burden and The Ballad of Lefty Brown which were set in western timeframes. This story varies from others by having sci-fi elements too; therefore, there are serious ethical and moral concerns woven into its script as characters cannot help but realize consequences they receive for their deeds through the whole movie.
Aporia features Judy Greer playing Sophie who is now a widow staying alone with her daughter after her husband has gone away. Moreover, throughout the film Payman Maadi and Edi Gathegi also give outstanding performances. Collectively, they form a group who wants nothing other than changing things but end up transforming them in such a way that they cannot be accommodated anymore because of excessiveness.
This role was perfectly played by Judy Greer who managed to pull viewers into her world whereby she had to live without her husband as a widow: he left behind not only her but also their teenage daughter coping with the impact caused by the father’s death. Additionally starring Greer are Payman Maadi and Edi Gathegi. In the end, they will be a group who wanted to change the world but instead it seems that they have made one that no longer has room for them because of excessiveness.
Judy Greer is Sophie in Aporia, who almost dies every day after her lovely husband Malcolm (Edi Gathegi) died. He was hit by a drunk driver 8 months before the film started, leaving Sophie alone with their daughter Riley. It is obvious that Riley’s dad’s death affected her really hard as she was an excellent student. She even began failing her classes and changed her attitude towards her mother badly. On Riley’s Birthday, she tells Sophia offensive words as if he despises life more than ever which makes Sophia feel extremely desperate.
Moreover, family is currently facing financial constraints adding on to their list of problems. But everything changes when Jabir pays Sophie a visit. This former physicist had to flee his country and now drives taxis for a living in America as he is refugee there. As Jabir shows Sophie how it works and explains its operations then plants some idea: what if there was time machine? And what if we were able to go back in time at about when Malcom left us? If given the chance, can we save him? Would we kill his killer instead?
When they push the button, it works when they feel like murder is a good idea. Sophie sees Malcolm crying and gets excited because she believes that things could return to normal, even if for a short while. Finally, she explains to him about what is going on, because all three of them have this dilemma – imagine saving people who died? Suddenly, they have the capacity of transforming lives for the better but Aporia is questioning whether it is ethical to do so at the end.
Though not original in films, fans of time travel might start pondering how distorting timelines would affect current era if anyone had come from back to mess up with his past. In going deeper into history and changing events already played out, their actions significantly alter the lives of others. However at its end Malcolm, Sophie and Jabir will find themselves in a different world as overmuch alteration may be tempting fate beyond recognition.
In fact, this whole concept has been too much explored in Science Fiction movies making Aporia’s plotline familiar with some viewers’ ears. The machine that facilitates time travel is one thing that although no real explanations are given at first sight; we can suffice without them since it looks more like an invention made by someone in their garage than anything else. Well it sort of was anyways. Nonetheless apart from these science fiction elements Aporia does not dwell on what graphics are used here but rather reflects on the emotional aftermaths of this act done by somebody else. Then again none other than those characters may deduce where all those actions would lead them through time towards an unknown tomorrow.
Ultimately though this movie focuses to show how sorrow feels and acknowledges pain suffered by self or other due to any terrible incident such as death or trying hard with indebtedness within working class neighborhood set-up; that’s why I think it is about grief primarily. It starts with loss as depicted through Sophie who cannot get her life together anymore and runs in circles around that theme for its first half-hour. Nevertheless, it might be possible for individuals to realize such findings if they could overcome the initial stage of the film–sometimes, the pacing could still interfere with the important content in some people’s eyes.
Therefore, Aporia ends up being a quiet movie. For all its runtime there isn’t much fuss or excessive drama. The tone is subtle and direct because it examines how we react to these situations as opposed to what caused them. What makes movies like this interesting is when they begin leaning more towards the philosophy of film as an art form that encourages dialogue instead of consumption alone. That was probably true of those summer movies which were seen as just simple-minded fun; nevertheless works such as Aporia defy these stereotypes.
It is noteworthy that Judy Greer is one of the most impressive things about Aporia. All in all, everyone puts in a fairly strong effort throughout the movie, yet Greer outshines them all as Sophie by making her a real person before our very eyes. Consequently, she is a miserable character who hates the circumstances of her life and wishes to change it. Albeit poorly written at some instances, this becomes quite evident right from the start.
That’s why she makes all those choices she makes during the film and why Jane believes doing so would help reduce or eliminate her hurt; this is dangerous move that will only do more harm than good as long as it gets deeper into trouble for her. The phrase “be careful what you wish for” often comes to mind as Aporia twists into its final act, showing that maybe everything about other side of life is not always better. This movie also wants to know: how far will you go to protect your family?
However, there are some flaws in Aporia films too. Throughout its run-time slow pacing still persists while towards its third act it begins feeling like dragging of the storyline hence not every other thing could be necessary in it. That may cause significant problems if one does not want or can’t get emotionally involved in the story or even care about characters despite an essential journey through cinema they have just made. There is much to learn from movies like Aporia about grief and acting decisions actors make on set when portraying it but such film’s fans will need patience because there are many parts where story progression slows down.
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