Review: Primer (2004)
Mark R. Leeper
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This SF film gets the research environment
and the baffling scientific techno-jargon just about
right. The story is hard to follow, but that might
not be so unrealistic either. Definitely this is a
demanding and puzzling film that does a lot with its
miniscule budget. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
[Minor spoilers.]
PRIMER is a foxy, ultra-low-budget, amateur film and is perhaps
the most believable time-travel story on film. It may also be one
of the most incomprehensible. This is a real physicist's science
fiction film. If time travel is going to be invented in the next
decade, the research environment shown in this film is probably
the sort of place it will happen. And these are the sort of
people who will do it. The viewer goes through a lot of
obfuscation to get to the point, only to find that the confusion
and the verbal fog are much of the point. For about the first
twenty minutes of this film there is nothing really comprehensible
said but business and scientific babble. We are clearly looking
at a startup technical company with a very great deal of technical
expertise. The talk sounds believable and is delivered with
realistic overlapping dialog.
We are looking at a startup company of a handful of young
physicists who have incorporated and then done something
extraordinary in a garage. Leading the project are Aaron and Abe,
two people who are on a higher plane of technical expertise than
anyone you know. Something amazing has been developed here in a
Texas garage, but the viewer does not know what it is that the
company has created. When we get enough clues finally it turns
out has something to do with what uninitiated laymen would call
time travel. Confusing the issue is a short discussion thrown in
about fungus. What fungus has to do with time travel is never
explained. (Heck, nothing is every explained in this film.)
There is a plot dealing with causality problem avoidance and
multiple parties trying to counter each other's actions. One
probably has to see the film several times or even many times if
the plot is going to sink in. If PRIMER has anything to offer the
viewer it is intelligence. And intelligence is a commodity
missing from so many films; PRIMER is worthwhile for science
fiction fans and for techno-geeks and especially techno-geek
science fiction fans. It is enjoyable for those who like puzzle
films. Others may go running out in frustration.
This film somehow got the Best Drama award at the 2004 Sundance
Film Festival. That is something of a jaw-dropping surprise.
Director, writer, actor, cinematographer, producer, editor, and
composer Shane Carruth actually needed a few other people, notably
actors, to make his film. Just how he managed to both run the
camera and star in the film is anybody's guess. But he made an
intelligent, albeit frustrating, science fiction film and copped a
major award with it at Sundance. It won't have a wide audience
and for those who equate science fiction and special effects it
will not have a lot to offer. Those looking for sci-fi instead of
science fiction will not like it. And those who absolutely hate
being baffled will not like it. Who does that leave?
Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1324780
X-RT-TitleID: 1137313
X-RT-AuthorID: 1309
X-RT-RatingText: 6/10