| Product: |
Primer (DVD) |
| Date: |
15/12/06 (144 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: The story, the look, the intelligence
Disadvantages: Complicated, need more than one viewing
Primer
Most people will have at least heard of the term ‘garage band’, the phenomenon of the early nineties where friends who practised and made music in their garages started making it big; I think Metallica were possibly the biggest band to start under that definition.
‘Primer’ introduces us to ‘garage scientists’, four friends who have full time jobs but who get together regularly at Aaron’s (Shane Carruth) house in Dallas, Texas to work on inventions, ideas and technology in his garage. They have set up lab equipment and seem to have had reasonable success. The meeting we join them at involves mailing off orders they have received for their creations. While doing this they discuss ways they could actually make something they could live off. Aaron and Abe (David Sullivan) have an idea but the other two, Robert and Phillip, want to go in a different direction, expanding their current production and making more money from what they already have (I think this is the case but am not 100% certain)
An argument ensues and as the money they make is shared a consensus is needed to progress. Eventually one is reached, Aaron and Abe backing down. Once the other two have left Aaron and Abe decide that they are going to implement their idea and work on it. Their idea either consists of something to do with gravity or a way of making things colder (again I’m not sure but this is how I understood it. I’ll explain more later!)
What they come up with though is something completely different, nothing like what they expected and the implications of this invention are what drives the majority of the film. The moral implications and complications that the use of their invention could cause are so deep that it is following them as the try to decide what to do that makes this film. It also where not only the film but also trying to review the film without giving anything away becomes really complex and confusing! Let’s just say that the true nature of Aaron and Abe slowly begin to rise to the fore the longer the film goes on.
This is a stunningly complex independent film, which Shane Carruth not only starred in, but also wrote, directed, edited, cast, did the sound design and more. If you know Darren Arononfsky’s ‘PI’ then it will give you an idea of what ‘Primer’ is like. While ‘PI’ dealt with mathematics in the world ‘Primer’ deals with heavy scientific theories. Both have a strong basis in their respective sciences; have the same aesthetic to them and are very much the vision of one man.
However while the scientific basis is a novelty it is also the biggest problem ‘Primer’ has. It’s script is very science based, probably too much so at the beginning. Hence my earlier statements about not being completely clear as to what was going on at some stages. There are a number of occasions where you (or I didn’t anyway) don’t really catch how Abe and Aaron got from one stage to the next. While this may be intentional it just seems to make this convoluted for the sake of it. One particular subplot seems to make very little sense other than to make a later revelation.
While the taglines “If you always want what you can’t have what do you want when you can have everything?” and “What if it works?” are likely to intrigue some people I’m not sure how many of them will come out and tell others to see ‘Primer’; and this kind of film needs word of mouth to get an audience.
‘Primer’ is very like David Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive’; you need to see it more than once to fully grasp all the intricacies and complexities in the plot. In both cases though I don’t think you will ever be quite sure exactly what happened even after repeated viewings, though you will have more chance with ‘Primer’ than ‘Mulholland Drive’ (as wonderful as that film is it still confuses me!)
Possibly a better comparison, complexity wise, would be Christopher Nolan’s ‘Memento’. It is hard to follow at first but things make more and more sense as the story progresses. You also understand things more the second time you watch it, when you know what is going on. You see certain things in a different light once you know the whole story.
Artistically though I go back to the comparison with “PI”. It is the closest cinematic experience to “Primer”, it feels the same and they have the same low key dynamic. If you were challenged by “PI” then “Primer” is a must see, it will keep your brain working throughout its short running time (78 minutes) and will have you replaying scenes afterwards, trying to fit all the pieces together.
Cast
Shane Carruth – Aaron
David Sullivan – Abe
Anand Upadhyaya – Phillip
Casey Gooden – Robert
Carrie Crawford - Kara
Summary: Layer upon layer the story unwraps with many viewings
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