(Credit: www.dvdanswers.com)
Writer/Director:
Shane Carruth
Cast:
Shane Carruth……….Aaron
David Sullivan……….Abe
Casey Gooden……….Robert
Anand Upadhyaya……….Phillip
Carrie Crawford……….Kara
Jay Butler……….Metalshop Worker
John Carruth……….Man on Couch No. 1
Juan Tapia……….Man on Couch No. 2
Ashley Warren……….Hostess
Chip Carruth……….Thomas Granger
ThinkFilm presents Primer, a film written, produced and directed by Shane Carruth. Running time: 78 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for brief language).
The movie:
Have you ever read a technology article in Wired magazine that was so over your head that you never had the gumption to finish it? Well, that’s what the movie Primer feels like. See if you can try to get past the first twenty minutes.
At the beginning four guys are sitting at a kitchen table talking shop. They’re licking and addressing padded envelopes hoping to attract would be investors; the four are looking for venture capital for a special device they’re making in the garage. The four men speak in tech-heavy jargon. We don’t really understand what they’re talking about, and they probably don’t either. But it is this half-understanding that helps draw us into this ingenious science-fiction story.
The device is an enigma. Resembling a shipping container, the invention is composed of platinum, Freon and various wires and coils. Aaron and Abe, who continue the project by themselves, conduct a series of tests. They find that the machine secretes a protein. By analyzing the secreted protein, the two discover the protein’s five-day growth actually equates to a growth span of five to six years. This leads them to determine that one minute inside the garage is equal to 1,347 minutes in the machine.
Curiosity gets the better of them, though. Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan) rent a space at some U-Haul storage facility to their hypothesis. It appears they can travel through time. The problem is they see their future doubles before they even attempt to time travel. Confused? Yeah, the movie is like that; it’s a series of puzzles. But it does have its benefits. Traveling back in time affords them the opportunity to buy some mutual funds.
Everything seems to be working fine; there is one big side effect. Every once in a while there are two versions of them. On one side of the spectrum are the Abe or Aaron who lived through present time (no time travel whatsoever). The other side has the one who goes back to the present and is living it simultaneously. Strange, I know.
As the movie develops a mystery is revealed. You start to question which one of the doubles is real? Shane Carruth’s Primer is a different kind of mind trip; leaving you to question paradoxes of time travel. If you are expecting lines of dialogue like, “This is heavy, doc” or expect an entertaining film, you will be sorely disappointed. If you tend to have an open mind or liked the movie Pi, however, you may be thoroughly impressed.
Some filmmakers can’t make a movie unless they have a good-looking cast or an abundance of special effects. Primer works because of the wooden characters and the resources used to make the film. The audio is garbled. Perfect. Scientists and engineers don’t have the best communication skills, anyway.
It’s safe to say Shane Carruth is a graduate of Robert Rodriguez’s (El Mariachi, Sin City) film school. One of the rules of his 10-minute film school is to take into account of what you have. Since Carruth worked in the engineering field, the story is about engineers and their invention. He also takes into account his shooting locations. Most of the film is shot in his parents’ garage, a friend’s apartment and at the University of Texas at Dallas. Carruth is also like Rodriguez in that he wrote, directed and edited the movie, and composed the score – and working with a budget around $7000 no less. Ah, but unlike Rodriguez, Carruth stars in his production.
If you have read this far chances are you will watch the film. Shane Carruth’s first-time effort is fascinating in its execution. Definitely a puzzle of film, and a throwback to meaningful science fiction stories – the works of Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, for example – of years past.
Score: 6/10
The DVD
VIDEO: How does it look?
The video transfer is lacking. Though, with a budget of $7,000 to work with one shouldn’t expect seamless quality. Not overtly offensive, the film print went through multiple changes – Super 16, 35 mm and mini DV – to get to the finished project. Out of focus video and graininess are issues of the original print. Also, you have to take into account the drop in video because of the color-timing miscues and dubbing to multiple sources (i.e., computers and reels of film).
Score: 5/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
Don’t expect your ears to be blown away by watching Primer. The musical score is very anti-climatic, basically piano notes and acoustic sounds created on computer. The audio track is garbled. Listening to the director’s commentary you learn that most of the audio had to be re-dubbed. When watching the first twenty-minutes or so you may have to backtrack a little so you can understand what the characters are saying. It’s very erratic. Characters keep talking over each other.
Score: 3/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: Two commentaries, a trailer and a time machine.
(Note: time machine not actually included with DVD.)
The grand jury prize dramatic winner of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival gets some nice extras from New Line Cinema. The first extra is a commentary track by the writer/director Shane Carruth. Carruth does an admirable job with his first commentary. For 78 minutes he talks about the whole process of making a film. One story Carruth tells is the technical issues he and his sound guy, Reggie Evans, faced with on-location shooting. Carruth also isn’t hesitant to point out the different flick flubs in Primer. How many can you spot?
The other commentary track is with a group ensemble. The ensemble includes Shane Carruth, David Sullivan (co-star and production assistant), Anand Upadhyaya (who played Phillip), and Shane’s father Chip Carruth (he played Thomas Granger). This is a fun commentary. They talk about how much weight was gained while filming. Shane’s mother always made sure the cast and crew had something in their stomachs. If they didn’t eat at the house, Shane’s dad would take them out to lunch. More filmmaking techniques are talked about, but this is mostly a track with a bunch of buddies kicking back and telling jokes and sharing their experiences.
The only other extras are the film’s theatrical trailer and New Line Cinema advertisements for The Assassination of Richard Nixon and the Academy Award-nominated Vera Drake.
Score: 5.5/10
