Willa's Flic Pic: Primer * * *

Primer
2004, Shane Caruth
Sci-Fi, Drama
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Abe: Aaron, I can imagine no way in which this thing could be considered anywhere remotely close to safe. All I know is I spent six hours in there and I'm still alive... You still want to do it?


I can't believe this is the first movie that I'm going to recommend on the launch of my movie reviews but it is a great mind bending flick. If you rent Primer you may think it’s only for hardcore geeks. But it is as good a drama as it is science fiction. And even if you don’t like the story, you might appreciate what Caruth did in making this film: a $7,000 budget, one take on most shots, filmed in his garage.

Very simplistically, this is a science fiction film about guys who invent a time machine. But this is not a simple film. It is really a drama about the affect of power on the relationship between friends. As Caruth says in his commentary, he’s “interested in trust and how it’s related to risk.”


As far as a time travel movie, the mood of Primer is extremely realistic. If you’ve ever seen Back to the Future, Time Bandits, or The Time Machine, they are filled with elaborate machines, flashes of light and “portals”. There is only one special effect in Primer and I doubt you’ll even know it when you see it. The act of time travel, as Aaron and Abe have invented it, is boring, laborious and unglamorous. The realism causes you to pause and ask, “Wait a minute. Did I just see what I think I saw?”

Aaron and Abe, with two other friends, run a cottage industry out of Aaron’s garage. They are passionate inventors. Aaron and Abe are the most driven and work without the other two on a particular device. As with most great inventions, this device does something much more than intended – it alters time for whatever is in the device. After only a brief period of disbelief, they soon insert themselves in the machine. At first, it is simply to go back and relive a day so they can make loads of money in the stock market. But very quickly it becomes an obsession with little thought to the side effects.


At first, I was trying to follow the technical dialogue very closely. But the sound track is very bad and I was getting frustrated trying to figure out what they were saying. Although Caruth says he wanted the technical language to be accurate, it is unnecessary to understand what it means. What is necessary is that you follow the change in dynamics between Aaron and Abe throughout the movie and how they respond to what they have discovered.

From the beginning Aaron and Abe realize the importance of what they’ve discovered. They know they cannot sell it or let anyone know that they have it. Governments would go to war over something like this. So Aaron and Abe are left to completely absorb the power of their knowledge. Although traveling back to score in the stock market may seem frivolous, they are constantly coping with having this power. They are limited and limitless.

NOTE: If you are insanely curious (as I was) about the multiple timelines in the movie, you can check out this link.