...and yes you guessed right: those are becoming scarce too!
At first glance, I thought Primer was going to be yet another american thriller structured in post-Sixth Sense fashion (you know, a little twist here and a little twist there with a big twist at the end) with a bit of science-fiction ... Read review
If you always want what you can't have what do you want when you can have anything? ... more
Primer is set in the industrial park/suburban tract-home fringes of an unnamed contemporary city where two young engineers Abe and Aaron are members of a small grou...
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Primer is set in the industrial park/suburban tract-home fringes of an unnamed ... more
contemporary city where two young engineers, Abe and Aaron, are members of a small group of men who work by day for a large corporation while conducting extracurricular expe...
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2000 - Drama - Director: Giuseppe Tornatore - Original Language: Italian - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
Advantages: Unique. Treats you as an adult. Mind-bending plot. Disadvantages: None.
...At first glance, I thought Primer was going to be yet another american thriller structured in post-Sixth Sense fashion (you know, a little twist here and a little twist there with a big twist at the end) with a bit of science-fiction thrown in for good mesure.
I decided to give it a go based on the fact that it was released under Tartan videos, and I soon realised that I had been wrong about Primer...very wrong.
It is a film ... ...no easy sentences flung into Primer to explain things clearly to the audience. Abe and Aaron speak the language of their trade and we are forced to keep up with them. It does not matter if you don't grasp the intricate details that go into the fabrication of an accidental time machine, because frankly...who would?
It is refreshing to experience a science-fiction film that treats you like a grown-up for once. Mind you, taking that into ... more
(NO lifting, similarities are coincidental, past experience in reviewing)
The golden age of science-fiction has long since passed. Films such as Tarkovsky's Solaris, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Oshii's Ghost in the Shell, Kubrick's 2001 and Lang's Metropolis are few and far between. All we get now is "entertainment" instead of "film". Don't get me wrong: I like a bit of entertainment too...as long as its backed up with great filmaking (Robocop and Total Recall come to mind)...and yes you guessed right: those are becoming scarce too!
At first glance, I thought Primer was going to be yet another american thriller structured in post-Sixth Sense fashion (you know, a little twist here and a little twist there with a big twist at the end) with a bit of science-fiction thrown in for good mesure. I decided to give it a go based on the fact that it was released under Tartan videos, and I soon realised that I had been wrong about Primer...very wrong.
It is a film that you will either love or hate. Primer isn't as much a science-fiction film than a study between two characters (with a very formal sense of friendship) that are faced with the consequences of their own actions and the effects that these have on the people that surround them. All of this happens through the misuse of a "device", but you never feel like Shane Carruth (the director) is trying to seperate sci-fi and drama; he manages to perfectly blend these in the most intriguing and intelligent way, making them inseperable in the process. On this basis alone, the film has to be seen! I read somewhere (I can't remember where though) that Shane Carruth had planed on making a character study at first. I know very well that you cannot trust all sources of information, but this rings true to me.
The film kicks off with a slow spinning shot around a table. Four small-time technicians are selling electronic components via mail, endlessly wrapping them in brown enveloppes and taking notes. In the background, a tired-looking woman is cleaning some dishes. The ambience is dull and the surroundings are depressingly banal: a typical evening in american suburbia really. You immediately get the impression that these men lead very uninteresting and uber-serious lifes.
When two of these technicians leave, we are left with our two main characters Abe and Aaron. It appears that both of them have started work on what they refer to as "the box". The way in which these characters talk about this mysterious device reminds us of kids that have stumbled upon a chemistry book; they are hesitant, nervous and a little confused as to what the "box" actually does in the first place.
So what is this box? In sum, by toying around with various ideas, Abe and Aaron have built a device which can alter the gravitational flow surrounding any object. This also seems to give them the opportunity to alter its mass. They have in the process created something else though: a huming energy force that seems to affect time.
Yes, in short we are talking time travel here! As an interesting side note the words "time travel" are never mentioned during the film. There is a reason for this: these people are so convinced that they are "on top of things" and "in control" that they would never allow themselves to sound out-of-their-depth. They constantly refer to all the strange occurances in the film as "paradoxes" or with other such terminology. Which brings me to what I perceive as the most clever aspect of the film, but one that risks to alienate most movie-goers. Primer's language is unique; there are no easy sentences flung into Primer to explain things clearly to the audience. Abe and Aaron speak the language of their trade and we are forced to keep up with them. It does not matter if you don't grasp the intricate details that go into the fabrication of an accidental time machine, because frankly...who would?
It is refreshing to experience a science-fiction film that treats you like a grown-up for once. Mind you, taking that into account, I don't have anything against Back to the Future...but you can't compare films like these because they are both brilliant in their own particular ways.
This box looks something like a mini-fridge made entirely out of metallic pannels, wired up to a few batteries, with dirty bands of some kind of adhesive masking tape strapped frenetically around it. In sum, it looks a mess and I love that it does; this is high-tech science-fiction born out of low-tech gear. If you are looking for stroboscopic thrills and intense computer effects, then you should probably avoid Primer.
Let's get back to the story, without any major spoilers I promise. Our two tech-heads have now divorced themselves from the rest of the group and are operating day and night to figure this device out. Should they bring anyone with sufficient funding into the project? They decide to stay cautious. Stranges happenings soon take place. It isn't long before they both start witnessing some mind-bending paradoxes: they discover their doubles (created through time travel, since one person cannot occupy two timelines at once) at work on various other boxes and very complicated schemes.
What are they up to? Why are there more boxes? How do they correct the various mistakes their doubles make? How does one deal with multiple-doubles stumbling accross various timelines with intersecting encounters and seamingly motivated to affect one thing or the other? How do you deal with life when it becomes an equation?
These questions run throughout the film and are answered in either a straight-foward manner or as a conclusion to a series of unravelling events...sounds complicated? Believe me, that's only the beginning. Primer eventually (no spoilers) dives into ocean-deep plots in which billions of permutations of the same event can lead to billions of conclusions, and in turn billions of consequences that can effect any given moment of Abe or Aaron's lifes and indeed the lifes of their doubles.
Most people have discribed this film as a headache. Maybe you've got one right now...if so, please don't blame me, blame Shane Carruth. No seriously...I say that's the point. Time travel and paradoxes shouldn't be easy to understand, right? Even the films protagonists learn this the hard; it's seems as if they are completely lost during the second half of the film.
A challenging film such as Primer would have been slow torture if it wasn't for some really nice-looking camera work, brilliant acting and a certain cinematic flair. Well the film has these too. I noticed that many shots were very symetrical, embrassing the architecture of a laboratory hall and framing the cold and austere buildings of the industrial sectors of the film's nameless town. It all contributes towards the atmosphere in one way or another. Carruth seems to love toying around with slightly out-of-focus framing; I believe this is to give the film a disorientating feel, but there may be other reasons that I didn't pick up on.
Primer's score is great too. Not only did Shane Carruth direct the film, star in it and finally edit it...he also scored it. The music is suitably low-key and consists of discreet electronic sounds as well a minimal piano sequence that acts as the main theme. I could remenber the main piano tune many days after I had first watched the film, and found myself humming it a few times since. Thinking back at it now, it isn't anything special but it does such a great job at conveying the feeling of the film.
Another point I should clarify is why I gave the "special effects" tab a "good". First of all, I think it's rather daft to have a "special effects" rating for all films on Ciao, but that's just my bitter film-loving spirit bursting to the surface now, isn't it? The "good" is for the one and only special effect used in the film. It is extremely low-key but fits the style beautifully...and hey, the last thing I wanted to see in Primer was C.G.I!
Tired of shy post-Iraq melodramas that scare away from honestly portraying the inhumanity of man? Tired of video games being made into films? Well then, why don't you pick up Primer?
If you like a challenge, then Primer is for you. If you are into independent films, then you sould give it a go too; you might end up loving it!
(NO lifting, similarities are coincidental, past experience in reviewing)
Advantages: You can actually feel your brain working Disadvantages: First viewing makes no sense
...know what was going on. Primer has a kind of twist (if that is what you want to call it) but it is far more subtle and even after watching it twice I still think I missed something. The moment of realisation is quite sly and you may miss it, but when you do you will wonder that perhaps you should start again and watch from the beginning. - So I did and I learnt nothing new except that when I got to the end I then thought I had missed something and ... ...now decided that the film is definitely excellent and incredible well written. This has to be the first time travel movie that does not really let you dwell on the paradox idea as you are trying to work out who is where and who knows what and whether what you think is true - it is more a spy thriller I guess in that respect.
Still no clearer on the ending though because it seems this has been left deliberately vague. given that the film is only ...
coleecip 27.10.2006 (01.11.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Primer (DVD)
Advantages: Incredibly story, will make you talk about it afterwards Disadvantages: Complex story, hard to follow
Primer
Most people will have at least heard of the term 'garage band', the phenomenon of the early nineties where friends who practised and made music in their garages started making it big; I think Metallica were possibly the biggest band to start under that definition.
'Primer' introduces us to 'garage scientists', four friends who have full time jobs but get together regularly at Aaron's (Shane Carruth) house in Dallas, Texas to work on inventions, ... ...lab equipment and seem to have had reasonable success. The meeting we join them at involves mailing off orders they have received for stuff they have designed. While doing this they discuss ways they could actually make something they could live off. Aaron and Abe (David Sullivan) have an idea but the other two, Robert and Phillip, want to go in a different direction, expanding their current production and making more money from what they already ...
Ailran 13.11.2004 (20.08.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Primer (DVD)
Advantages: Interesting, Intriguing, Good use of no budget Disadvantages: Can be completely confusing
...by an original idea.
Primer is a complete mindscrew of a film that will have you baffled or at least trying to unravel what has transpired. Four men run a small business based in a garage shipping out error-checking devices. But they know there is more they can achieve in the world of science and technology. Two of them develop a device that becomes something they can't comprehend. Its capabilities are revolutionary but it's also dangerous with ... ...large budget sci-fi flicks.
Primer is a great indie film, if you've seen the likes of Pi and El Mariachi then add this to the list of inspiring efforts.
- The DVD -
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Dolby 2.0
The film was shot low budget on Super 16mm with little artificial light. As a result the transfer looks grainy buts you'd expect it. In fact it adds to the abstract nature of the material.
The soundtrack is fairly minimal in it's design. There ...
utero 07.05.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Primer (DVD)
Advantages: A thought provoking powerful drama you will want to watch again Disadvantages: film extras
An excellent debut film from star/director Shane Carruth. This low budget film certainly makes up for its low costs with an excellent script, adept casting and acting, and complex storyline.
Set in an american suburb two 20 something engineers create an invention to solve their money troubles. But the invention exceeds their expectations and pushes them to the boundary of reality and morality. The film is produced and casted by the family and friends ... ...hollywood who could not have done this better with a multi million dollar budget and the most high profile actors around. Its a film pushed by an idea and the consequences of that idea. Something which transpired onto the big screen as well as onto the script.
Its a film that was loved by critics but failed due to a lack of marketing and competition with the financial power of Hollywood. An absolute gem rapidly increasing in cult status the more ...
Tested-Reviewed 14.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Primer (DVD)
Advantages: Uses the tine paradox well Disadvantages: Could be difficult to understand
A low budget independant movie that does what many multimillion pound blockbusters don't! This movie drags you into it's brilliant and complex storyline paradox and does not let you go untill the very end. It is about a pair of inventors waiting for the invention that will give them their big break when they stumble upon something that neither of them should really be messing with. This storyline is not well explained for any people out there that ... ...the story and therefore ending to be worked out from once the movie is over. This film definitly goes into my top 10 and I am so glad I stumbled over it in my local DVD "World Cinema" section and it is well worth the watch! Just cause you have never heard of it doesn't mean it isn't a brilliant movie that deserves the title 'Cinema Masterpiece'! ...
Darirch 09.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Primer (DVD)
Former engineer Shane Carruth announces himself as a force to watch with 'Primer', his first film. Carruth wrote, directed, edited, produced, photographed, scored, and stars in the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. He plays Aaron, who, with his business partner and best friend, Abe, experiments with a device that seems to have more power than they could ever have imagined. Playing with batteries, refrigeration, and other techniques and materials in Aaron's garage, they discover that their machine just might have the ability to move back in time. Originally dealing with Weebles figures and wristwatches, Aaron and Abe are soon considering making a box large enough to transport a human being - with remarkable results. An indie hit, 'Primer' was made for about seven thousand U.S. Dollars. Carruth shot the film with a purposefully grainy look, as if it were made in the 1970s. The retro feel works well with the futuristic elements of the story, which lead Abe and Aaron to question reality, truth, and their own physical and mental being. Because he learned about film on his own without going to film school or making any previous shorts, Carruth brings a freshness to the genre that is invigorating, with unexpected plot twists and complex narratives that invite multiple viewings. 'Primer' is an unusual, unique, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining movie.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
PALISADES TARTAN; LACE GROUP; SONY DADC
Release date
20/02/2006
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
TVD 3590
Barcode
5023965359025
Screenwriter
Shane Carruth
Languages
Main Language
English
Hearing Impaired Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Director Commentary, Director Cast And Crew Commentary, Original Theatrical Trailer, Tartan Trailer Reel
Aspect Ratio
1.78 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo English
Professional reviews
Review
Enthralling (Empire, )
Donnie Darko for grownups... A glorious rebuke to a dumbed down movie world (The Guardian, )
It's as if David Lynch had directed Memento (Total Film, )
Compelling (Uncut, )
DVD Description
Former engineer Shane Carruth announces himself as a force to watch with 'Primer', his first film. Carruth wrote, directed, edited, produced, photographed, scored, and stars in the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. He plays Aaron, who, with his business partner and best friend, Abe, experiments with a device that seems to have more power than they could ever have imagined. Playing with batteries, refrigeration, and other techniques and materials in Aaron's garage, they discover that their machine just might have the ability to move back in time. Originally dealing with Weebles figures and wristwatches, Aaron and Abe are soon considering making a box large enough to transport a human being - with remarkable results. An indie hit, 'Primer' was made for about seven thousand U.S. Dollars. Carruth shot the film with a purposefully grainy look, as if it were made in the 1970s. The retro feel works well with the futuristic elements of the story, which lead Abe and Aaron to question reality, truth, and their own physical and mental being. Because he learned about film on his own without going to film school or making any previous shorts, Carruth brings a freshness to the genre that is invigorating, with unexpected plot twists and complex narratives that invite multiple viewings. 'Primer' is an unusual, unique, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining movie.
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