Shane Carruth, almost a one-man show behind the camera (including writing, directing, and composing), came up with this provocative head trip of a film. An obviously VERY low budget but intriguing indie, it shows what happens as Aaron (Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan), a pair of young engineers, spend their free time inventing a device originally intended to reduce mass. They find that it is capable of so much more - leading to far-reaching consequences.
The kind of story that requires you to pay attention, and watch again (if you're so inclined) to pick up on what you might have missed, "Primer" is a small-scale sci-fi film made with conviction and intelligence. Carruth made every dime of his approximately $7,000 budget count, and ultimately ended up with about 80 minutes of usable footage. (The films' run time is just over 77 minutes.). "Primer" will definitely NOT be for people who crave action set pieces & spectacle; they are likely to simply find this boring. But people who prefer their genre films to be about *ideas* should be reasonably impressed. Without my revealing too much, the story has our two main characters endlessly caught up in attempts to rethink their plan of action.
Much like Robert Rodriguez' "El Mariachi" of a dozen years previous, this proves that mega-budgets are absolutely not necessary to create something truly interesting.
Seven out of 10.
The kind of story that requires you to pay attention, and watch again (if you're so inclined) to pick up on what you might have missed, "Primer" is a small-scale sci-fi film made with conviction and intelligence. Carruth made every dime of his approximately $7,000 budget count, and ultimately ended up with about 80 minutes of usable footage. (The films' run time is just over 77 minutes.). "Primer" will definitely NOT be for people who crave action set pieces & spectacle; they are likely to simply find this boring. But people who prefer their genre films to be about *ideas* should be reasonably impressed. Without my revealing too much, the story has our two main characters endlessly caught up in attempts to rethink their plan of action.
Much like Robert Rodriguez' "El Mariachi" of a dozen years previous, this proves that mega-budgets are absolutely not necessary to create something truly interesting.
Seven out of 10.
