Aporia is a strange, endearing little sci fi that is as much of an enigma as its odd title. Google defines the word “aporia” as an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction in a text, argument, or theory – basically, it’s the “grandfather paradox” that we time-travel film nuts have come to accept as an inevitable part of the genre. Indeed, Aporia, like its high-budget science fiction cohorts, has some brain-bending plot holes. But that’s to be expected.

 

In the film, Sophie (Judy Greer) is in the throes of grief less than a year after her husband Mal (Edi Gathege) dies in a tragic drunk driving crash. Now a struggling single mother to their daughter Riley (Faithe Herman), Sophie is at the end of her rope. That is, until Jabir (Payman Maadi), a family friend who shared a special bond with Mal, reveals he may have the answer. 

 

It’s not a time machine, per se – but a contraption that makes it possible to kill someone in the past. When Sophie reluctantly partakes, she and Jabir find that offing her husband’s killer comes with some unintended consequences. This introduces a moral dilemma that’s not often touched on in other time-travel tales. The result is a film that leans more on the melodramatic, but the incomparable Judy Greer keeps this maudlin movie afloat.

 

It’s not exactly a rip-roaring good time, but Aporia holds its own as an exploration into the more intricate consequences of altering the past that some bigger films tend to brush past. And fans of Greer will be happy with how the comedy queen flexes her dramatic acting chops.