After viewing the trailer for Ace Thor’s short “Wowser”(2019), I can’t argue against the effort being labeled “a David Lynch nightmare.” Well, repeat that praise for Thor’s sophomore feature, Infinitely Dense, which was screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
A near-graceful intertwining of the psychosexual, eerie dreamscapes, artificial reality, ordering bananas online, piano-bar music, and playing ping-pong with Abe Lincoln, this indie paean to deranged, affluent white men is a gleeful addition to that growing genre that this year alone includes over three hours of Odysseus and over four hours of Elon Musk.
Infinitely Dense opens on a breezy, sun-laden beach day, not a shadow in sight. Clearly this is perfect weather for the grey-haired, grey-sweatered, blue-jeaned Tom Bailey (Glen Steele) to sign his divorce papers. “That’s it?” his now-ex-wife asks, commenting on his muteness at the end of their marriage, though she really wasn’t expecting more. The lean, monosyllabic spouse holds his tongue then and continues to do so for the first ten minutes of the film.
Finally alone in his dreamy house, Tom orders groceries; resituates a huge drum, a vase of flowers, and a chair; feeds his canine pal Bruce; and boxes away photos of his wife and daughter plus anything else that might hold sentimental value for a normal soul.
Bruce, by the way, is banished the following day.
Finally, with no distractions to contend with, it’s time to watch reruns of The Beverly Hillbillies and then connect with camgirl Amypond online. Tom, though, isn’t much more verbal when trying to connect sexually with the momentary object of his desire. He finally fingers out with difficulty: “You look sexy.”
Amypond responds: “Have you been a bad boy?”
So is this how our extremely reticent antihero will expend the rest of the time he has among us? No way.
Tom has signed up for an advanced AI-powered augmented reality system that fiddles with the blurred line between conscious and unconscious thought. Syringed into the back of his neck, Tom just has to say “apple” and a Red Delicious appears in his hand if he wishes for a young, smart, and fit woman who will listen intently to what he has to say, Wham! There she is. And if she’s wearing too much clothing, that’s also easily remedied.
The chip within him he is told “can communicate touch, smell, sight, sound and taste in real time.” He can even transport himself into an episode of an odd take on The Brady Bunch. Better yet, Tom even starts painting again as he did in his youth. His inspiration back then: Goya’s Black Paintings.
But as Truman Capote warned us: "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”
Really now, can being loved by the perfect someone you created to love you be as satisfying as being loved by a mate who complains about your snoring, is not in the mood for a little romancing when you are, and is upset that you forgot her birthday?
And what if you start getting a little loony? Is there a chance you might accidentally hurt someone or worse as you lose your hold on reality?
With the aid of a game cast, a fine score, relaxing visuals, and with Mr. Steel, who’s reminiscent of Bruce Dern, as he makes the unbelievable believable with a highly controlled verve, Infinitely Dense seems to forewarn us that with a bigger budget, Ace Thor might really get to disturb us in an even more disquieting manner.