User reviews

A group of young scientists work at a frantic pace to invent they are not quite sure what, but their efforts start demonstrating interesting side effects. From their work in a small cottage industry of error checking devices they are forced to confront the fact that they have discovered something too valuable to market. As they explore the potential of their machine, they are caught in a frantic loop to second guess themselves.

Science fiction in the cinema has largely been dominated by the visual impact, and so this is a welcome (for some) return to the world of ideas. This is not an easy-rise entertainment film but one where you have to concentrate to keep up, working out the logical implications of what's happening. If made on the scale of Men in Black or the Matrix it would descend to the level of spoof – as it is we follow the two main characters knowing that their actions are having momentous effects on the world around them and on themselves. Instead of flashy graphics, we are left to keep the ramifications of the story in mind as the characters themselves grapple with what they know is happening but can't even let themselves look at directly.

Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there is something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they have built, wrestle over their new invention.

What can you do with $7000? Apparently, with a good script and a cast / crew that does not exceed their expectations or potential, quite a bit. This film is on par with very early Cronenberg (such as "Stereo"), and it seems to already be a modern science fiction classic.

We get some great quotes, too. "I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since later this afternoon." Where else could that line ever make sense? I also love the question of how do cell phones work? Most time travel films, even if they go to the future, neglect cell phones. This one asks a valid question: which one would ring if two existed in the same time? Hmmm..

You remember the first time you saw The Matrix (please, not the awful sequels) and you could barely keep up with what was going on, trying to piece together the pieces of what you were being told into a coherent story?

This movie was exactly like that. The first half or so is fairly linear (despite the frenzied Altman-esque style of everyone talking on top of each other), but then it gets WEIRD and it just absolutely blew me away. This film won a major Sundance award, and normally that means I won't like it (especially the normally pandering audience award winners) but this movie, and first-time filmmaker Shane Carruth, deserves absolutely everything it gets. I am just blown away.

Did you like Pi? If so, go see this one.

By the way, the attention to detail in the beginning is great. Often in thrillers with technical content, if you have a technical education you have consciously ignore all the stupid movie crud that they pull to make it into a good story. But this movie pulls off an incredibly believable technical story, with only a few distracting gaffs. That is, the tech jargon is good enough that you don't get distracted and can focus on the story line.

Final comment: Yes, it is very hard to follow the story line in this movie.

Obviously I'm not going to spoil it, but I think the following fact will help when the movie gets kind of hairy towards the end: Aaron is the dark-haired guy, Abe is the blond-haired guy.

This movie now has distribution and you should keep an eye out for it in the fall.

Pros-

1. Charged with heavy scientific theories(half of which i don't understand) not dumbed down for the audience. Serves it's homegrown realism.

2. High production value for a microbudget project. Shots feel calculated and cinematically composed. Once it kicks the sense of paranoia is always there. The dialogues are pretty naturalistic and creates the atmosphere of being accompanied by scientists(not seen that often). It feels homemade rather than cheap and that helps maintaining its low-key presentation.

3. For a genre known for silly pseudo-science and not giving much thought about paradoxes it faces, this film started the trend of 'science based' time travel movies.

Cons-

1. Too much theoretical talks for exposition in the first act. Nearly lost me there.

2. Convoluted plot, partially saved by the narration.

I don't know how to feel about this movie. I do know it takes more than one viewing to catch it all. I enjoyed it, overall. There were twists even I didn't expect, and I'm one of those people who never gets caught by twists. The movie was well-acted. It seemed as if the things they did could actually happen. Watch it closely the first time, then watch it again to see how much you missed. If you get it all the first time, congratulations. If it takes more than one viewing, join the club. It's definitely a must-see, even though I only gave it a 6. It makes you think. It makes you REALLY think. I bought it sight-unseen for my husband for his birthday. I've watched it more than he has. So, "thumbs up", but be prepared for a bumpy ride.

It's not easy to follow. The production values aren't perfect. There's not an obvious 'good guy' or 'bad guy.' But was this movie any good? Oh hell yes.

This movie has been compared to "2001" because of the sci-fi angle. But while the movie has one sci-fi element in it (the device), the movie isn't even about that. It's about these two guys, and how it affects them individually, and their relationship with one another.

I found this movie to be fairly challenging, but worth the ride. I was up for hours discussing this movie with friends, and if that's not what you like to do with your movies, then this one probably isn't for you. But if you like something that tweaks your brain, that you can watch repeated times, that you can really chew on... then here comes "Primer," like a ghost in the night.

It's too early to tell where this movie will reside in cinematic history-- revered, forgotten, or somewhere in between-- but it's already won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance (where it beat out 'Garden State'), and just won't go away. It moves along, it's clever, it held my attention. Even "Pi" didn't do that, and if you're a film nerd, that's saying something.

If you're not a film nerd, approach this one with more caution. Remember, Shane Carruth had no idea even how to make a movie when he started making this one, but the end result is something far more fascinating than your typical film-school snob could ever put together. This is wholly original, and took me someplace I have never been. And that alone makes the "2001" comparison start to look more and more accurate.....

Aaron, Abe, Robert and Phillip are engineering friends working in the garage during their spare time. The guys argue over the project. Aaron and Abe work on their own device which is suppose to reduce weight but it also seems to be a time travel machine.

This is a micro-budget indie. I don't even know if they ordered pizzas. This is an interesting concept. The tech talk is a bit confusing. The acting is all amateurish and so is the production. That's not unexpected considering the couch cushion change. This is a good blueprint for a remake once they gather more financing and some bigger acting names.

Yesterday I watched "Project Almanac" which was also about time travel. The discussion board was full of threads about the temporal paradoxes created in the movie. One thread mentioned movies that did a good job with the time travel theory and "Primer" was mentioned, so here I am.

I don't consider myself a dumb or inattentive person; I typically don't need plots spelled out for me and I understood the premise, however, somewhere mid-movie they lost me. Characters were mentioned whom I hadn't heard before and nor did I know their relationship to the main characters. Then it got to the point where I didn't know what time frame they were in or who I was looking at because every time the two main characters went back there would be a double of them. It all just got too confusing; to the point I actually watched it twice to see if I missed something. Even with watching it twice I couldn't quite figure it all out. Their dialog was too ambiguous and the jump cuts from scene to scene left me behind.

What's amazing is that the movie had a narrator--and it was needed--but he added very little to helping comprehend this movie. Time travel movies are naturally confusing because of the paradoxes and conundrums in them, the last thing I need is ambiguity on top of confusion.

This is one of, if not the most complicated film I have ever laid my eyes on. Right now, I am having severe difficulties figuring out what I have just been a witness of! Perhaps, it is my lack of adequate knowledge in the field that got me overwhelmed with its intrinsic complexness, or that my puny brain got overstuffed with a ton of information, that I wasn't able to process! Irrespective of what the exact reason might have been, at this very moment, I am quite speechless, I don't even know what to say or what to discuss with you.

Despite my heartiest efforts, I do not think I have comprehended it completely. While I'm pretty much aware of the fact that this movie is quite notorious for its complicatedness and that, many others before had identical issues in grasping the core notion of the writing, still, I feel being a fan of such high-level concepts (Time Travel, Time Paradoxes), I should have had done better as a viewer, I should have had made a better understanding, but it seems I couldn't.

"Primer" is often praised for its clever, convoluted plot that you'll have to watch several times to truly figure out. This is a myth, though, since if you pay close attention and ignore the film's many irrelevant details and scenes, the plot is a pretty simple tale of a guy going back in time, making a mistake, then going back in time again and fixing that mistake.

The film is hard to follow NOT because of any clever or deep writing, but instead because the editing is utterly terrible. The characters spout technical jargon for too long without serving the plot or theme, and a couple scenes are incomprehensible because of bad lighting, awkward cutting, poor staging, and lousy sound quality.

All the dialogue is dry and dull, NEVER giving us the slightest reason to care about any of the characters. Primer won't stir any emotions in you, it won't inspire your imagination, it won't make you reflect on life, & it won't even make you uncomfortable. Its storytelling style is woefully incompetent and would be better suited to instructional pamphlets.

For all its long-winded, muffled dialogue, I can't even find a statement or a message in this film. You might enjoy this film if you are a college kid trying too hard to have "different" tastes from others, but if you want an actually compelling or rewarding film experience, ignore all the hype and give Primer a miss.

There are so many reasons to watch a film. One is to see how characters interact in hostile settings. The thing that we normally know is what the external or internal forces are. In this case it is a device that a couple guys create which has elements of a time machine. How it is made and the scientific concept that is employed is a mystery to us. This film is more about what happens to the inventors when they get to the verge of success. The machine becomes an overwhelming element of the status quo that begins to cause a rift in the relationship. We are never sure what is going on exactly, but we know that it is deadly serious. There is a disintegration that is put in motion that changes the joy of discovery to an unwillingness to take the wraps off. What are the practical applications? I don't know.

The film is obviously low budget and has a bit of that Blair Witch feel to it with a narration over it. This may be a bit of a weakness. Nevertheless, if this film was really done for $7,000, it is a masterwork. It is highly provocative and unsettling. I need to give it another chance. Did I not get it or is that the whole point.

It has an interesting story, but they have added so much complexity that even the viewer forgets what time it is now!

The speed of events is high, so it may take some time to understand what is happening.

It was interesting but I will not watch it again even to better understand the story, because it was not well made in general.

Never before have I felt so compelled to re-watch a movie within 48 hours of initial viewing. This mindf$%# of a movie demands exactly that. If you are up for a challenge, I recommend you view this film... research it a little (not too much)... watch it again, and then go read the forums at primermovie.com - but importantly, do not go there before watching it at least twice in my opinion. It's amazing what can be done with only $7,000 - in comparison to what others do with $200,000,000. This is science-fiction at its purest and I really hope it gets a wider release and receives the attention it deserves. Contagiously brilliant, and as close to perfect as a film of it's ilk can get. 10/10

Yes, there is a chance that you will NOT like this movie. That's because it is not a movie made for the majority of paying cinema goers, but it is a movie made for the sake of movie making. It is an ORIGINAL movie, so if you want something that you are used to see and expect beginning and ending in a specific way don't go watching this one.

Now, about the movie: it is low budget, but the money was well spent. The plot is confusing, but good, and it does need you to watch the last 30 minutes again in order to be understood. The acting is good, even if the roles are nothing demanding. The idea is very interesting and makes you think "outside the box" :) You will see what I mean after you watch the movie.

I won't waste your time telling you what it is about, just watch it and if you don't like it, at least you will have gained another perspective on movie making. For me this is a keeper: burn, CD, burn!

It's a great piece of sci-fi. Everything is tight, no plot holes, no unanswered questions.

Low budget so don't expect dolly shots and cinematic blockbuster type camerawork or CGI. There isn't much a need for flashy effects, and the few practical effects used work well. Acting is perfectly fine, the main characters are both pretty reserved/antisocial STEM industry techbros who isolate themselves for their work, so nothing too dramatic was needed anyway. Some of their remarks don't really hold up well in 2024. Specifically, they both come off as homophobic but that might just be how they were written (being antisocial STEM techbros, after all)

If you go into Primer knowing what to expect as a low-budget indie science fiction film that doesn't hold your hand but will reward you for solving the puzzle and treat the dated remarks as a sign of it being twenty years old (jeez), it can be a satisfying thing to watch unravel.

For much of the film I sat watching open-mouthed, half smiling at the film for reasons I am still trying to understand. Perhaps it was the fearless choice to stick to its own voice, to avoid watering it down by appealing to the wider audience. Perhaps I was amazed at the economy of this film (not just the reported budget, either); at how it so effortlessly dances around the pitfalls inherent with this almost universally misplayed genre. What an interesting film!

There's a breathtakingly light touch with details and subtlety. In fact the film contains and is defined by many aspects deliberately avoided in "sci-fi movies", namely, the surface banality inherent in much of engineering or innovation. In the real world this is characterized simply by hard work, testing and analysis and not visually dynamic at every turn. How they've made this aspect fascinating is a testament to the well-tuned ear and eye of the filmmaker. Listening to these characters talk, you feel relieved that there is none of the nonsense typically associated with sci-fi films: no buxom models or chisel-faced bodybuilders arguing passionately about trivialities while secretly accomplished in physics. This is intelligent fiction about real people engaged in science and engineering who stumble onto something extraordinary. Perhaps thats why it feels so fresh.

It also has a smart and (arguably) well thought out take on the nature of how this invention can impact one's ability to function and reason.(I'll avoid spoilers, not that it will help much...). I liked the film immensely and would recommend it.