Primer
by Shane Carruth
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DVD details
Actor: Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford, Casey Gooden, David Sullivan, Shane CarruthDirector: Shane Carruth
Brand: Warner Brothers
Editor: Shane Carruth
Producer: Shane Carruth
Writer: Shane Carruth
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 77 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-19
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: New Line Home Video
DVD Reviews of Primer
DVD Review: Very Interesting
Summary: 4 Stars
'Primer' is a film about that most famed and classic sci-fi concept, time travel. Many films about time travel simply use it as a plot device, a way to get their characters to a different age, but 'Primer' is one of those works that's interested in the concept of time travel in and of itself, and the complications and paradoxes inherent in such activities. Needless to say, it doesn't explain or resolve these concerns, indeed they can't be resolved, but it does result in a very interesting, dense film. Like many, probably most viewers of the film, I wasn't entirely sure what had happened as the film ended the first time around. I got a better, much more certain grip on it after watching it a second time, and I actually think the movie became a bit less interesting when it's more fully understood, but it's still an intriguing web.
The film opens by introducing us to 4 young engineer types who work together on side projects in their spare time. Frankly, we don't know too much of what they're actually doing, we just watch them work for a while as the group is pared down to two central figures, Abe and Aaron, who create a strange new invention, which they contain in a small steel box. Even they're not entirely sure what it is or what it does, but their experimenting with it reveals that objects contained within the box are removed from the conventional timeline, and they eventually discover that this device can allow them to travel backwards in time. The rest of the film shows us the difficulties that come from their experimenting with the machine. These opening sections alone will doubtless scare some people off, as they're filled with techspeak. It's not as hard to understand as some would have you believe, but maybe I just let the words and concepts I'm unfamiliar with fly by with out concern because, in the end, this stuff doesn't much matter. They are making.... something, somehow. How they do it doesn't matter all that much, it's just a play to sell you on the reality of the film and draw you in, and it worked for me, anyway.
The time machines themselves are intriguingly different from what you'd usually see in a modern sci-fi film. Again, they're just boxes, and you travel backwards in time simply by sitting in them after they've heated up. Furthermore, you only move backwards in real time, i.e. you get in the box at 6 P.M. and stay there for 6 hours and it's now noon. This sort of time travel is amusingly mundane, allowing for simple practical problems and benefits, and forcing the characters to continuously deal with potential timeline deviations as they're living through an immediate past where their past self currently exists. Thus, it comes down to living the same day twice, the first time around planning it all out, the second time reaping the benefits. Of course, the short timeline means that they aren't allowed to advance particularly ambitious goals, not much beyond making money on the stock market, but Writer/Director/Actor/Everything Shane Carruth does a good exploring the sort of complications related to such short distance time travel, and this is where the major intrigue of the film comes in. For example, Aaron, at one point, brings his cell phone with him on one of their trips, and it rings. This begs the question, is the time symmetry affected? Is his other cell phone also ringing? They don't know. They also note small, amusing points, like how the storage unit security guard always sees them come in to gain access to the time machine, but never sees them come out, and how they must, the first time thru the day, bring in an extra car in the morning to the storage facility, as the car that they take there won't actually be there yet when they get out. Obviously, the potential complications of time travel have been considered before, but you usually don't see this kinda contemplation in a film, and it felt relatively new and different to me, anyway. And, again, it's interesting to see a film with simple, everyday concerns related to time travel rather than just the bigger overlying concepts.
The film can be quite difficult to follow, as it, for the most part, simply moves forward in the later timelines of the film, rather than just showing us the very first, original timeline and then the various permutations. For example, we see that Abe has traveled back in time before we learn that they have the ability to do so-- After all, he traveled back in time to *before* he was actually was able to do so in order to discuss it with Aaron, so this is the scene that we actually watch. This also allows for some unanswered questions which are legitimately left unanswered. For example, at one point they notice that one Mr. Granger has used the time machine and now has a double, but neither they nor us knows why. Again, they haven't told him about it *yet*, so why would they know? Eventually things spiral out of control, as Aaron and Abe have ideas about manipulating the past beyond simply cheating at the stock market, and they grow paranoid and lose their trust for one another and so on, leading to problems relating to maintaining the timeline and dealing with doubles and so on. I won't go in to too many specifics, and while the final third of the picture can be tough to follow it is, again, interesting.
This film was really shot on the cheap. Reportedly a miniscule $7,000. It's a fairly professional affair considering that, cleanly and competently shot, and with acceptable acting. (Fortunately, the film is very staid, with the characters generally discussing things in a calm manner, thus requiring little real acting or emoting). The picture is pretty damn grainy at times, and the sound isn't always too hot, but it's never painful to watch, and even has some nice cinematography at moments.
Yeah, this is a neat film. I don't think it's quite the mind puzzle that most people make it out to be, though I certainly don't claim to be 100% sure of everything that happened, but it's definitely a lot more dense and intriguing than the vast majority of the films out there. (I must also note, however, that I don't really think that everything is supposed to tie itself together cleanly and clearly, no matter how carefully you look at it. Indeed, the fact that it can't all be put together is the major point, and that the situation has become to complicated to be surely dissected.) Definitely worth a look if this is your kinda thing.
Grade: B+
Description of Primer
Everything you think you know about modern science ia about to unravel in this critically acclaimed film about two young engineers & the consequences they face when they invent a machine that enables them to travel back in time. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 04/19/2005 Starring: Shane Carruth Run time: 77 minutes Rating: Pg13Primer won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and has drawn repeat viewers eager to crack writer-director-star Shane Carruth's puzzler of a time-travel drama. Carruth, an engineer by training, plays inventor Aaron, whose entrepreneurial partnership with fellow brainiac Abe (David Sullivan) unexpectedly results in a process for traveling back several hours in time. The men initially use these rewind sessions to succeed in the stock market. But a dark consequence of their daily journeys eventually complicates matters. If this sounds like a very commercial, science fiction thriller, Primer is anything but that. Shot on 16mm for $7,000, the film has a tantalizing, sealed-in logic, akin to Memento, that forces viewers to see the fantastic with a certain dispassion. One may be tempted to sit through Primer again to more fully understand its paradoxes and ethical quandaries. --Tom Keogh