Today’s quick review: Primer. Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan) are a pair of engineers who run a small hardware company out of their garage. They make the discovery of a lifetime when they design a peculiar machine that can send objects and people into the past. At first they use the machine to profit from the stock market, but as they realize the machine’s true potential, their activities take a darker turn.
Primer is a low-budget science fiction movie about time travel. Aaron and Abe are ordinary engineers, and their approach to problem-solving reflects this. Their attempts to test and apply the machine are logical and genre savvy, but the temptation to go beyond their agreed-upon rules leads them into muddy waters. As such, Primer is a rare film that explores the logistic side of time travel for its own sake.
Primer makes clever use of the film’s limited budget. No special effects are needed for the time travel, the cast is small, and much of the plot is conveyed through dialogue. At the same time, these constraints make the film confusing and hard to follow. On top of the complexities of time travel plot, Primer opts for an indirect storytelling style that buries key plot points in Aaron and Abe’s organic, messy dialogue.
Watch Primer if you are looking for a minimalistic time travel puzzle that gets to the heart of the genre. The presentation is imperfect, but the plot of the film is quite interesting, and trying to follow it is a fun challenge for the right type of viewer. Casual viewers will get little out of the film, as will those with no interest in science fiction.
7.0 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for smart writing hampered by confusing presentation and niche appeal.