Primer (2004)
October 22nd, 2004 at 8:46 am (4 - Good)
I have for some time now held to the belief that the most important thing to getting a movie made is a good script and the gusto to go out and make it. I believe that Primer (2004) proves that point quite well.
Made for only $7,000 Primer is a rich and complex story of two engineers who try to make it rich by inventing a new gravity subjugating machine but instead end up producing an effective time machine. Once the shock of their discovery has started to wear in the two start experimenting with sending themselves back in time by a day to play the stock market and in doing so start to unravel the nature of reality generating near time paradoxes and changing the reality of events that have already occurred. On a single watching the movie is hard to follow though with a bit of forewarning of the events to come and a lot of attention an astute audience can note important events for later discussion and clarification. In interviews writer/director/producer/editor/cinematographer/composer/star Shane Carruth states that even under detailed scrutiny the movie contains no plot holes or contradictions.
Primer serves as a model and inspiration for low budget independent filmmaking. The movie took 3 years to make, most of which was spent by Carruth in preparing, editing and composing. Set in borrowed locations the science fiction tale always looks perfectly real and honest proving that big budgets and special effects are not necessary components for effective story telling. What is required is an engaging script and a desire by the filmmakers to see their vision realized. The movie was awarded the Grand Jury Price at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and is not only quite deserving of the laurels but also very much worth finding and seeing, whether you are an aspiring filmmaker looking for inspiration or just looking for a good movie to spend the evening.
gl. said,
October 26, 2004 at 10:55 pm
i’ve heard good things about this movie (though the figure i heard was $10,000) and so it gladdens me to hear you like it, too. it makes me quite hopeful about seeing more low-budget films. but it does reinforce my belief that a good script is one of the most essential things, and it seems like there are too few of those to go around.
Nick said,
November 1, 2004 at 11:38 pm
I imagine getting the movie transferred to film, etc, increased the costs. People always said El Mariachi was only $10,000 to make. Technically, that wasn’t true because Rodriguez didn’t pay for the film, the company that bought it did. I think this was the case with Blair Witch, too. But it sounds cooler to say it only cost such a low figure. And as far as the filmmaker is concerned, that was the cost.
G-Money said,
April 17, 2005 at 9:19 pm
In interviews writer/director/producer/editor/cinematographer/composer/star Shane Carruth states that even under detailed scrutiny the movie contains no plot holes or contradictions.
Frankly, there are money contradictions. Although I enjoyed the movie, the theory of relativity proposed by Einstein is completely ignored. The fact of the matter was that when the two were inside their boxes going back in time, time on the outside of the boxes continued, it was only the time in the boxes that went backwards. On that note, the two men were not present in the world outside the boxes as they were going back in time, meaning that they did not exist for that “world of time”. Good movie for 7k though.
Abe said,
September 18, 2006 at 11:32 pm
What if time inside the box sped up while time outside was normal. The men would come out of the box older instead of going back in time.