Seeing that it’s 4/20, The Man Who Knew Infinity sounds like the perfect title for a wacky stoner comedy. Imagine Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons getting the munchies and then setting out on a road trip together for some late-night “fourthmeal” at Taco Bell. A Cheech And Chong for the modern, stereotype-free stoner. Alas, The Man Who Knew Infinity is actually a film based on a novel (based on a true story) about Srinivasa Ramanujan, a young, poverty-stricken man from India who gains admittance to Cambridge University and forever changes the world of mathematics. When his peers asked how he was able to come up with such complex mathematical theories, Ramanujan claimed that God was speaking to him.
The Man Who Knew Infinity opens in Chicago on May 6, but The A.V. Club and IFC Films have an opportunity for you to see it for free on April 27. For your chance to win a pair of passes to the advance screening, simply follow the link here and enter your information. Remember: Advance screenings are often intentionally overbooked, so be sure to arrive early if you want to guarantee yourself a seat. An official plot synopsis and trailer for the film can be found below.
Written and directed by Matthew Brown, The Man Who Knew Infinity is the true story of friendship that forever changed mathematics. In 1913, Ramanujan (Dev Patel), a self-taught Indian mathematics genius traveled to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he forged a bond with his mentor, the eccentric professor GH Hardy (Jeremy Irons), and fought against prejudice to reveal his mathematic genius to the world.