Review: 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' is distinctly finite
Hardy (Jeremy Irons) tends to Ramanujan (Dev Patel) in “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” (Shaw Organisation)
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 108 minutes (~1.75 hours)
“The Man Who Knew Infinity” is a biographical drama that’s based on the book of the same title. It is a dramatisation of the life of mathematician Srinivasan Ramanujan. It stars Dev Patel (Srinivasan Ramajunan), Jeremy Irons (G. H. Hardy), Toby Jones (John Edensor Littlewood), Stephen Fry (Sir Francis Spring), Jeremy Northam (Bertrand Russell), and Devika Bhise (Janaki). It is rated PG.
“The Man Who Knew Infinity” is a film about a super genius who doesn’t feel like a genius. It’s always intriguing to see how geniuses are depicted, since they seem inaccessible to regular people and are motivated by different things. But here, the genius feels like an ordinary person who just happens to be good at mathematics, except that his mathematical proficiency isn’t portrayed convincingly.
Janaki (Devika Bhise) in “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” (Shaw Organisation)
Highlights
Jeremy Irons plays a nuanced Hardy
Hardy is less likeable than Ramanujan, but Jeremy Irons manages to imbue the cold character with a subtle sincerity. While Hardy tries his best to be a practical and methodical professor that is not swayed by passion and reason, you can see hints of his emotional side in Jeremy Irons’ portrayal of the character. It’s the many layers of his character that turns a potentially dry figure into an interesting person to watch.
Ramanujan’s musings n “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” (Shaw Organisation)
Letdowns
Ramanujan, as written, doesn’t feel like a mathematical prodigy
Ramanujan’s lines and character arc don’t reflect his mathematical prowess. It’s an informed ability, because the only indication you see of this talent is him writing mathematical equations. Otherwise it’s just people describing their awe of his mathematical abilities. Dev Patel’s performance is decent (although it’s not his best) but it isn’t that of a mathematical genius. That’s the biggest issue of the film, because it doesn’t present a convincing picture of someone so brilliant. “The Man Who Knew Infinity” comes across as having distinctly finite knowledge.
Janaki’s subplot is tiresome
Jabari (Devika Bhise) only exists so that there is an obstacle for Ramanujan’s quest. She doesn’t have a character of her own, and resembles a plot device rather than a protagonist. Without her the film would be a lot shorter, but there would be no (artificial) tension for Ramanujan to want to return home. Even so, her presence has no impact on the story. It doesn’t affect you, emotionally, and is just another meaningless scene to cut to.
No setups for later plot elements
Certain plot elements come out of nowhere, with no mention of them anywhere in the beginning. It’s like the film forgot these plot elements and hastily added them in later. But these plot elements carry significant weight, and require a lot more setup for them to be satisfactory. These plot elements could have been enjoyable payoffs, but right now they’re just random events that happen for no reason.
Themes and message are perfunctory
Characters have conversations about important themes, such as the nature of mathematics and the importance of having faith. But apart from these ostensibly deep talks, there are no other references to these themes. It’s a shallow look at these themes. It doesn’t even work, mechanically, and the movie feels like it’s paying lip service to these messages. But there’s no reason for these themes to be inserted, so it doesn’t make sense for this to be in the film. It’s just there for the sake of being there.
Ramanujan is personal friends with all known integers in “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” (Shaw Organisation)
“The Man Who Knew Infinity” doesn’t deliver on its promise of showing us the story of a mathematical genius, and needs more character development to work.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? No.
Score: 3.0/5
“The Man Who Knew Infinity” opens in cinemas 19 May, 2016 (Thursday).
