Starring: Brandon Blagg, Keith Bradshaw, Jay Butler (II), Chip Carruth, John Carruth Directed By: Shane Carruth Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: New Line Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 19, 2005 Running Time: 77 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 2003
Product Description: Everything you think you know about modern science is about to unravel in this critically acclaimed film about two young engineers and the consequences they face when they invent a machine that enables them to travel back in time.Running Time: 77 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 794043784927
Amazon.com: Primer 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
Not too clear which double is talking Not just time travel but loops within loops... You would have to make loop diagrams to get it all straight, but once the third box enters in you go from doubles to triplets. What happens is the need to make your environment "better", becomes a motivation for changing things, not just using time travel to make money. The what if factor takes hold and they are no longer garage Geeks messing around, and friendship has changed on them... This is a very good movie about engineers and their culture besides being about time travel.
Geeky dialog could not have been worse! Hated it! When I have to turn on subtitles for an American film to have the slightest idea of what is going on, then something's wrong in my book. This talky, nowhere film may have an appeal to some, but I vehemently hated it. Sundance Award or no Sundance Award, "Primer" would have never won in my book.
Written about engineers... for engineers... by engineers This movie really isn't a movie... it really doesn't work as a satire... but it truly is a great experience. At its core it really is.... a primer. It's a glance at the what/how/whys of the discovery of time travel. All the elements are there. And it is truly intended to give you no answers (after all... it's not called "Conclusions").
My first viewing of Primer was on IFC, and I started watching it 15 minutes into it. I ended that viewing angry above all else. I decided there must have been something I missed in that first 15 minutes that ties it all together.
So I watched it again, in its entirety. And then I began to understand.
Primer goes through the process of discovery... what can be considered a REAL scientific discovery. Which is actually not convenient to a movie format. But they do it, and leave it raw, with the crosstalk, tedious explanations, and egotistical posturing that goes along with any engineer who thinks they're right (believe me... it happens).
Then after discovery, it delves into the human condition. Wanting to exploit it for profit, then considering the moral implications, then devolving into the selfishness of trying to play god.
And the way it is filmed, as things progress, there are intentional gaps as timelines become more blurred and disconnected. This makes Primer incredibly original, and great fun to play with the possibilities.
It truly stimulates the mind, and gives you something to walk away with and think about for days after viewing. THIS is a measure of a great film. And when you think about the spirit of the film, its budget constraints, it makes Primer a must see.
If you are an engineer, or know engineers, you owe it to yourself, or them, to see Primer.
5 Yawns This movie has an interesting concept. But if you like watching paint dry then you will love this slow moving uneventful drama. I recommend this movie before buying sleeping pills.
Another thing! Don't these guys change their clothes? Even at a party they wore the same shirt and tie! Then they go to work in the same shirt and tie.
I wish these guys would have traveled back in time and killed themselves because maybe this torturous movie would not have been made.
Great film, bad DVD Given the complex nature of the script... i thought that listening to the director commentary would clear some things up... because even though I've seen it about 3 times, i still don't have all the clones straight... so I bought the DVD...
Surprise!... there's two commentary tracks, none of which talk about the plot, or clear up any of the time travel permutations!!! Both commentaries talk about camera angles, how much that prop cost, how many hours of sleep they got while shooting... "see that guy sitting on that chair, that's my brother"... gee, thanks...
Don't buy this DVD if you want to get insight into the plot... because they deliberately DO NOT talk about the plot points (on both commentary tracks)... as the commentary rolls on, I just kept getting more and more frustrated and angry... PLS STOP TELLING ME ABOUT THE FILMSTOCK AND LOCATIONS... NONE OF IT IS INTERSTING... AND ITS NOT WHAT YOUR FANS WANT TO HEAR ABOUT!!!
By the end of the commentary, i ejected the dvd and threw it at my wall.
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