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As "A Trip To Infinity" (2022 release; 79 min) opens, we are introduced to a group of smart, very smart talking heads including mathematicians, physicists, cosmologists, etc. And they start talking about what infinity is. One of them, applied mathematician Steven Strogatz, explains it by way of the story of The Infinite Hotel, as a cartoon plays out what Strogatz is talking about. At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is co-directed by veteran documentarian Jon Halperin (who also co=wrote and co-produced this) and newcomer Drew Takahashi. The movie is divided into 9 Chapters and a Conclusion. There is of course no plot to speak of, and along the way we are confronted with seemingly simple questions like "can you go beyond infinity?", "is infinity real or a human invention", etc. The talking heads provide their perspectives, and I haven't a clue whether what they way is true or not. The fascinating thing is that their mind-bending musings are all accompanied by a montage of some sort, at times quite literally (see: The Infinite Hotel), at times very abstract. The original score is an intriguing electronic collage by newcomer Efrim Manuel Menuck. Can't wait to hear more where that came from. Bottom line: this is not your average documentary. I quite enjoyed it for what it was.

"A Trip To Infinity" premiered on Netflix earlier this week. If you are in the mood for something different altogether and don't mind that your brain might get scrambled a bit along the way, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

This documentary avoids some of the mistakes that physics documentaries usually make. The visuals take a lot of artistic license but they're mostly not inane and actually help us visualize certain concepts, the experts give a lot of one-liners but they don't feel too much like trolling us or just bantering (for the most part), the subject is open-ended but there's a focus to ponder over just that.

However, I wish the questions and cues were a little less of a shtick so that the experts could expound on the subject a little more, in their own ways - there are actually many of us who like to be intellectually challenged (those who are seeking for entertainment wouldn't even give this a shot anyway).

For example, when the experts are given a glass globe in their hands and asked about holding infinity, it's cute but a little cringey. In fact, Levin already points out that's not how infinity works, if it's truly infinity, we won't be having a comfortable bird's-eye view of it, it's just a very human-centric approach. Moments like these attempt to lure profound statements over something that's already very profound on its own. Instead, what may work better is that, with each example that the experts give, they could go a little deeper, discussing things like how they may try to prove it mathematically/experimentally, what are the limits, paradoxes, different theories on it, etc.

Not a documentary for people without a scientific background, most of the concepts are pretty complex and will not be understandable by the regular folk. In fact, many people will probably be offended just because they don't believe in science in the first place and want to live in blissful ignorance. That is why it has reviews below 5 stars.

There is also the risk of people mistaking infinity with god, which is a long stretch. Infinity is a mathematical convention that helps us understand things outside our scale, but math in itself isn't even a perfect representation of reality (although we use it as an approximation). There probably is a complex math-like language underlying the tissue of reality, one that could explain what infinity really aims to be, but it is still not within our reach.

An advice: if you felt interested or doubtful about the concepts represented in this documentary, they are not new, there are a thousand of youtube videos and creators devoted to explain this matter better.

Infinity is a mathematical concept. This documentary does a nice job of exploring it.

The question of whether our universe is finite or infinite, is a wildly different issue. Brilliant books have been written about the evidence for each possibility question and what created the universe in the first place.

Unfortunately, this beautiful documentary does not make anything other than a cursory attempt to describe the issue.

The computer graphics and music in this documentary are exceptional. But the entire thing seems to be aimed at the 10th grade audience that has never thought about infinity before.

The never-ending curiosity to know the unknown is something that scientists devote their life. And infinity is one of the biggest of them.

When we talk about the existence of God and the end of infinity, it seems like we don't know; or maybe we have an infinite answer to it, yet we can't be so sure. It made me feel that every second of our life is crucial in the realm of infinity, where my existence is so tiny.

Apart from my philosophical understanding, the documentary was very thoughtful and insightful. It explains infinity from different perspectives. It felt like my brain was enjoying a good meal. The psychedelic animations and VFX were undoubtedly creative, aesthetic, and eye-soothing. Loved it!

Not a bad documentary, but definitely viewed it as more of an introductory teaching lesson for children. It's not great for anyone who is at all versed or has any deep interest in science or math, as it does not go any deeper than the surface level for all the theories it posits. Most of the documentary is introductory paradoxes, theories, or thought experiments. Like Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel (a hotel with infinite rooms and infinite guests), along with a good explanation of the Poincaré recurrence theorem. The example of the latter used in the doc was an apple in a box left for a near infinite or infinite amount of time would decay into particles and eventually after such a period of time elapsed would have to return back into its original state of a fresh apple. Because there are a finite amount of particles making up the state of the original apple, there are a finite amount of states those particles can be in. Therefore once the amount of time it takes for all the particles to go into every state they can, they will have to return into its original state of a fresh apple at some point; after repeated other states as well.

I'm not a scientist, so I can't verify the science in this film. But I'm a designer and I have to say - visually this Netflix production is really breath-taking.

In my opinion, this is how popular science films should be. The visuals here are not only beautiful, visually pleasing and exciting, but they are really smart, creative and really exciting. The creators did a really fantastic job connecting creativity, VFX and science to make these extremely complex scientific concepts accessible and digestible for the general public.

A great watch for all ages and probably a really good chance to make your teenage kids excited about science.

Also, unlike many woke Hollywood productions these days, this one is actually a great example of inclusivity and diversity.

No, but they is no connection between the two.

Our universe is finite, infinity is on another level.

To see the world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in a wild flower, to hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and Eternity in one hour.

Every multidimensional system tends to infinity, increasing its complexity by itself.

He has seen everything that is now, everything that has been made from heaven and everything that is in the infinite. Always homogenous and similar.

If the doors of perception were cleared, everything would be presented to man as it really is: infinite.

Man is like a fraction where the numerator is his real self and the denominator his idea of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the value of the fraction. And as the denominator expands to infinity, the fraction tends to zero.

This documentary is a brain massage for curious minds. Visually stunning, conceptually amusing and impossible to not to watch until the end. This a a piece of art, something hard to find nowadays.

I can't believe the bad critics and low ratings of other people. This is the most interesting documentary I have watched in many many years.

You don't need to be an expert on mathematics or physics to understand, they make it easier for you through good writing and visuals.

We need more like this one as humans. Curiosity should be number one occupation in our lives. Thanks for making this, today I am going to bed happy to see that there is other humans making stuff like this in this world.

This casual docu covers introductory info on physics, math, cosmology and related stuff. However, the style of delivery is heavily kids-oriented. The art side of this docu is amazing, and there is tons of creativity gone into making every concept interesting and easy to consume by someone who e.g. Doesn't have a higher education and has grown up on bite sized TikTok videos.

About their final thoughts that life and even humanity or life as a whole are just quick blips that won't leave a trace - we actually don't know that yet! Only in 1998 did they notice that galaxies are flying off at accelerating speeds. What else will physicists discover later on? So, it's just silly to make big judgements if your life has meaning or not on some contemporary state of knowledge that's being changed and improved once every few decades.

I'd stay positive. I'm certainly not religious, in fact I'm a militant atheist. Yet I believe that, as long as our knowledge is still vastly incomplete, we shouldn't fall into the "curse of the Western atheist" of the 19th and then the 20th centuries - the meaninglessness and the existentialism. Just accept that we don't yet know the meaning of our lives. Some time in the distant future we (or our descendants) might. Our purpose is simply to carry the torch until then.

As seems to be the norm for Netflix type so-called 'documentaries', visual presentation trumps content depth, breadth and clarity.

Too much on-and-on ramblings on common and minor aspects, and some screen time are just downright irrelevant and totally time wasting - like literally waiting for the train to pass as the interviewee just sat there.

Pertinent and more complex concepts on the other hand are quickly glossed over or just left hanging.

The whole attempt seems to hinge on decorating narratives around the visuals rather than the other way round. Visual quotas seem to be the priority regardless of relevance.

Overall - weak. Only for the very casual viewer of this otherwise highly interesting topic.

For viewers who are already familiar with the rudimentaries of 'infinity' from much better documentaries, give this a miss. Not worth your finite conscious time.

Most reviews r from people who didnt ever start to understand what was that docu adout.its not all science or all philosophy.we need to see the bigger picture and think outside the box,dont dismiss what is hard to understand.these people tried to give incredibley complicated stuff to almost everyone... scientists and philosophers are trying to meet..and it s a good try.ever if someone didnt understand anything,its still a fun 70 minutes!!!but...i m sure,that everyone who really watch this docu ,will in some point learn something.that is for sure.thanx to all who participated and tried to explain and share with us all that knowledge.

I found it ambiguous in the beginning but gradually this gets to a momentum. It gets interesting and gives a thought provoking journey from mathematics, physics, cosmology and philosophy. Some of the concepts and theories gave a spiritual boost to my existence and surrounding.

Graphical representation were meticulously done. Speakers were knowledgeable and very candid. It started with infinity but then blended with physics, quantum physics, cosmology and philosophy. If you have some science background, it would be very enjoyable to watch. It's surely will give you new perspectives of seeing life and a good food for thought.

The topic of infinity is interesting, puzzling, and maddening. In mathematics the notion of infinity arises from either a way to describe things we can comprehend or explain or when an equation describing a system leads to an undefined state often called a singularity. The movie provides exhaustive thoughts on the former but not enough of the latter. There is an array of respected physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers. I would have liked more differing viewpoints. Most of the discussion was homogeneous and became repetitive.

The production was top rate and I give full marks for graphics and insightful questions so it was interesting enough for me to recommend it to anyone interested in science and math.

I have no idea why some people would give this a high score. This is not a documentary. This is some nice visuals with lose incoherent points that are never made. If you give it a low score, you must not understand it right, cause your brain is to small? It has a few good points, but most of it is just empty space and very little science. Hire a few smart people, make them say some stuff, add visuals, done. Netflix almost always makes horrible documentaries. Just buy this sort of content from other creators instead. For the amount of actual information that is given to the viewer this could have been much shorter.

I give it an "8" because it's 80% great, mind-twisting stuff. Especially the "Hotel Infinity" example.

Towards the end, the doc expands into the future of the universe and implies infinity has a different meaning (I won't ruin it.)

However, in the early part of the doc, they treat "infinity" as a number instead of a concept. For example, they say, if you add 1 to infinity, it's still infinity, so, if you subtract infinity from both sides, you get 0 = 1.

The whole first part of the documentary, makes the same mistake in many examples, treating "infinity" as a number instead of a concept.

To me, this undermined the very point of "infinity" and further reinforced our childish notion of "infinity" as the highest number ever.

The documentary intrinsically focuses on the topic of infinity. In a marmalade style. It mixes a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, with the intellectually designed visualization of the mechanics, yet often awkward and sometimes down-right irritating musical undertone can make this difficult to watch.

Einstein's space-time theory is utterly mocked up in the visual and verbal explanations. According to the theory, the universe is not potentially infinite, however, time and space are bent in a way that the beginning and the end of the universe are connected.

This is all over the place. Too short for the number one things it wants to cover and too long for what it covered.

Enjoyed quite various perspectives toward one topic, but I think the weight of right / left brain is not very balanced, from time spent on different interviewees. The philosopher barely appears compared to the mathematician and the physicist.

And definitely would love to hear from spiritual leaders joining the discussion as well, like yogi guru or monk master. I believe that'll lead to an even more diverse way of thinking about this mystery.

Also sometimes I imagine if each interviewee talks to each other, having some discussion face to face, colliding their professionals. (For example I like the crew sometimes asked questions and see the interviewee's reaction.)

Anyway I am still grateful for the crew and the people who contribute to this film / movie. Great animation & visual design to interpret such abstract concept.

I watched this program a few weeks ago and have found myself thinking about it ever since. Quite simply the most mind blowing program I've ever been privileged to see. You don't need a science background, just a keen interest, willingness to listen and think, and an imagination. As the narrating geniuses try to wrap their own heads around the concept of infinity and its implications, the program perhaps unintentionally elevates science into the realm of spirituality, and casts glimmers into the nature of eternal life, ironically the relevance of each one of us to the greater picture, and indeed the workings of God - perhaps more accurately described as the Great Life Force. The universe is "alive" and how amazing it is to be part of it.

Eminent scientists - mathematicians, physicists, theoretical physicists, cosmologists, philosophers - discuss infinity: the concept, how large it is, whether it exists physically, its practical uses. Through practical examples we get to understand it better.

A highly interesting discussion on a fascinating subject. I wasn't sure where this was going to go as how can you discuss infinity, exactly? I have a mathematical background (Masters degree in Statistics) so am certainly no stranger to Infinity in mathematical equations and applications but this is something more than that, trying to turn Infinity into something tangible.

We thus have an interesting blend of maths, physics and philosophy, with astrophysics / astronomy thrown in too. Even though the experts try to make things as easy to understand as possible, it's still quite complicated - lose concentration for a minute and you're liable to miss out on understanding an important piece of the puzzle.

It's also quite overwhelming and in some ways depressing, the shear enormity of some of the things discussed and how insignificant we are in comparison.

I was excited to watch this after seeing a clip online. Unfortunately, it turned out to be maybe 30 minutes of content spread out over the duration. It introduces a chapter, finding different ways to paraphrase over and over again, to the point where I think the introduction of the chapter lasted 30 minutes and the content was maybe 5. I love theoretical physics and mathematics and was looking forward to hearing some really interesting thought experiments and scientific concepts, and this was a big let-down. If you're looking to watch something that tackles the question of infinity using mathematics and physics, this is not for you.