Primer

Primer is a strange little movie about Aaron and Abe who run their own electronics company out of their garage. During one project, the two accidentally create a time machine. Sounds like a simple premise, but the movie is much less than simple.Moving backwards and forwards in time, with unexpected paradoxes, and technical jargon that would confuse a career physicist, this is not what I would call a simple movie. But that is precisely why it's so good. Shane Carruth, the writer, director, producer, music-composer, and cinematographer, pulls no punches with the technical talk. A former mathematician and engineer himself, he decided that actual science language would sound more real to the audience than anything he could have made up, so as a result of that, much of the explanation for the machine in the movie is completely incomprehensible. The plot is just as bad. After my first viewing, I am extremely confused as to some of the events, I don't think I would understand it fully with five viewings. The unconventional narrative is intended however, Shane Carruth says that he wanted to give a feeling for how a time paradox would actually work, that he wanted the audience to be just as confused as the characters feel. With both of those provisos, I still applaud the makers of Primer for an outstanding achievement. Working with only $7,000 and a crew of five, Primer ended up looking professional and feeling like something from a more well-known director, maybe Stanley Kubrick. The movie does have some similarities to his classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Being a fan of science-fiction, I've seen dozens of movies that go for main-stream appeal with flashy effects and otherworldly machines. Primer brings scifi back down to Earth. The story feels real, almost like something that could actually happen. I want to see what this team could make with a larger budget. Though this film is dense and only recommended for someone who really wants some brains with their scifi, I thought Primer was an excellent movie.
-J