Mind-bending thrillers like Primer are terrific viewing with your teenagers. Maybe if you're nice, they'll explain the ending to you.
Primer (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:19
Rotten:8
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Dense, obtuse, but stimulating, Primer is a film for viewers ready for a cerebral challenge.
Theatrical Release:Oct 8, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $392,420
Synopsis: Former engineer Shane Carruth announces himself as a force to watch with PRIMER, his first film. Carruth wrote, directed, edited, produced, photographed, scored, and stars in the film, which won... Former engineer Shane Carruth announces himself as a force to watch with PRIMER, his first film. Carruth wrote, directed, edited, produced, photographed, scored, and stars in the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. He plays Aaron, who, with his business partner and best friend, Abe (David Sullivan), experiments with a device that seems to have more power than they could ever have imagined. Playing with batteries, refrigeration, and other techniques and materials in Aaron's garage, they discover that their machine just might have the ability to move back in time. Originally dealing with Weebles figures and wristwatches, Aaron and Abe are soon considering making a box large enough to transport a human being--with remarkable results. An indie hit, PRIMER was made for about $7,000. Carruth shot the film with a purposefully grainy look, as if it were made in the 1970s. The retro feel works well with the futuristic elements of the story, which lead Abe and Aaron to question reality, truth, and their own physical and mental being. Because he learned about film on his own without going to film school or making any previous shorts, Carruth brings a freshness to the genre that is invigorating, with unexpected plot twists and complex narratives that invite multiple viewings. PRIMER is an unusual, unique, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining movie. [More]
Starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Anand Upadbyaya, Casey Gooden
Starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Anand Upadbyaya, Casey Gooden, Carrie Crawford, Jay Butler, John Carruth, Samantha Thomson
Director: Shane Carruth
Director: Shane Carruth
Screenwriter: Shane Carruth
Producer: Shane Carruth
Composer: Shane Carruth
Studio: ThinkFilm
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Reviews for Primer
It's one thing to admire what writer/director/composer/actor Shane Carruth wrought on his $1.98 digicam budget; it's quite another to have to sit through the mind-numbing results.
A jigsaw puzzle made of pieces that may or may not fit together, it assumes the intelligence and interest of its audience, a brave move that pays off big.
Carruth challenges us to imagine the impossible, then asks us to consider the moral, ethical and spiritual implications of what we have witnessed, and put those considerations on equal footing with man's desire to go where no man has gone before.
Has such an engaging, offbeat first half that it's all the more frustrating when it gets lost inside its own convolutions and delayed revelations.
It has all the hallmarks of an amateur production: questionable sound and picture quality, crude performances, and dubious editing.
The first thing Shane Carruth should have done as a director was fire himself as an actor, because I think he gives a terrible performance.
It's dense, and in a way that doesn't begin to reward the effort required to untie it.
By turns inventive, confounding and obtuse, it doesn't always work, but it challenges, nonetheless.
What's impressive -- aside from the fact that Carruth got the thing made in the first place -- is that the movie's tone skates right between coherence and an appreciation for endless, even infinite possibilities.
Writer-director Shane Carruth makes a low-tech, low-budget entry into a staple of science fiction and manages to make it feel like a genre you've never been to before.
Carruth has made a fascinating first film and a solid foundation for things to come.
An impressive, if muddled, first effort from writer-director-actor Shane Carruth.
Latest News for Primer
March 16, 2005:
Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival 2005
A 70-mm French comedy by Jacques Tati will open my 7th annual Overlooked Film Festival this April, and a Bollywood musical starring "the most beautiful woman in the... More...
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