Primer

[Jack]

Suprised no one has started a thread about this yet...

From it's PERFECT review here on CS, the FANTASTIC trailer, the really cool concept, that it won Sundance Grandy Jury Prize, and that it did all of this with a modest budget of 7,000(!) puts it at the top of my must-see fall list. I can't wait! Anyone else digging this?

[Andrey83]

I am. Such a huge fan of Donnie Darko that i am, i have come to the understanding that realy "underdog" movies can be VERY entertaining. And i love the concept of this movie. If it comes to a cinema here in Norway (which i doubt) i will see it. If not, i might buy it on DVD when that happens..

[pockybot]

Just saw Primer tonight. Wow. Who knew a film made for $7000 could be one of the most visually rich, intense, and best cinematic visions of the year? Here's my spoiler free review I just wrote:

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What if the very fabric of time itself could start with a box, and be filmed for $7000 in a storage unit?(among other locations) Who would have thought that one of the most gripping and visionary films of the year would be a do-it-yourself movie project. There were many moments during the movie where I literally had goosebumps, in a way very few movies can give. Surely something this exciting, this alive, and this bold had to have been a studio film? Nope. Written, directed, produced, editied, acted, and scored by newcomer Shane Carruth; Primer is unlike any film I've seen before. With curiously no opening credits, Primer right away throws you into the misama of verbal chaos that is at its very core. At first the effect is a bit alienating, coming in midway to the most unaccessable of homespun engineering geek babble. Though it's not too long when puzzlement gives way to engagement, and suddenly you know you're witnessing something special. You're hooked, and you're not quite sure why.

The film itself is an ouroboros mobius strip, coiling and folding back onto itself in the most baffling of ways. Such revelatory loop theories may bewilder most filmgoers, but here it feels convincing in its deadpan manner. The ideas introduced here alone are only amplified by the overall hypnotic feel and sound. Basically it's a film about a couple of MIT type students building some sort of gizmo in their garage, mulling over Walmart receipts and sandwiches...yet you know there is something boiling beneath the surface. I also must mention this film is pretty darn quirky. Besides having no opening, there's some pretty strange moments and revelations. Some of the dialogue alone is as humorous as it is crypticly enigmatic(I haven't been this hungry since I ate later tonight) There's also a rather inspired rant given when the two characters are at a gas station. To be able to comprehend everything, or even most of it will prove futile at first. Everything is so carefully layered and seemingly revealed, that to piece and connect everything together seems as arduous as the thing which is being built. But it does begin to form, with the kind of third act revelations that only the best films can pull off.

For such a micro budget, it's truly astonishing how strong the film feels. The look of Primer is absolutely striking, with a textural opaque tone and lighting that looks cross between a 70's New York film and a Sprint commercial. Visually the film has a look reminiscent of everything from One Hour Photo and 2001 to THX-1138 and Fight Club. I'd also say it reminded me of Pi and Memento with some of the ideas presented. And while we've seen the menacing time bending slacker idea brought forth in great films like Donnie Darko, it's not often I leave a movie feeling such exhilaration and awe, rife with the kind of thrills studios pay hundreds of millions to produce. Yes, Primer is one heck of a mind bender, and another unchartered venture into experimental cinema. But it is also a truly landmark achievement for independent filmmaking.

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[moviemaker93]

I don't think primer will come to theaters in my country but if it does somehow then i'll see it for sure. It will probably be one of the best films ever.

[Andrey83]

Thank you for the review pocketboy! This movie sounds just awome!

But, i'm 100 % sure this will never come to a cinema in Norway, so does anyone know if there will be a DVD release?

[moviemaker93]

Thank you for the review pocketboy! This movie sounds just awome!

But, i'm 100 % sure this will never come to a cinema in Norway, so does anyone know if there will be a DVD release?

I know how ya feel.

[Dogbert0228]

Just watched this... I appreciate good film making, and this was very smart film making... The lighting, the visuals, and the theories and ways in which they were presented all gave the impression of someone with a firm grasp of both their subject matter and good technique. I almost felt as if I were watching a Charlie Kaufman film, just a bit more down to earth... I need to watch this again to understand it all, and maybe I never will, but it reawakens the aspiring engineer in us all, even if the best thing you ever made was a LEGO castle...

[stonefaced_1]

Just watched this... I appreciate good film making, and this was very smart film making... The lighting, the visuals, and the theories and ways in which they were presented all gave the impression of someone with a firm grasp of both their subject matter and good technique. I almost felt as if I were watching a Charlie Kaufman film, just a bit more down to earth... I need to watch this again to understand it all, and maybe I never will, but it reawakens the aspiring engineer in us all, even if the best thing you ever made was a LEGO castle...

I saw this in February and I was kind of neutral to it. While I appreciated the film making, I didn't appreciate the mile a minute plot, and incredibly uninteresting characters. I would have to watch it again to understand it, but I just didn't think it was good enough to warrant a re-watch.

[froman]

I missed it in theaters, then forgot about it. It's definately gonna go on my queque now though. Sounds interesting.

[redman]

go damn. i wish primer would hit the theatres over here.

[Glordreen]

This was film was good. It really made you think. Very ingenious. shouldtn this thread be in the reviews forum?

[redman]

yeah probably. but it hasnt come out in some places, or probably never will

[rosncranz]

very good film! i really enjoyed it, very intelligent (unlike this review) and sort of scary actually, or i guess unnerving. my only complaint is that they were always talking over eachother, and while it is really realistic it still hampers the film sometimes imo.

overall--A-

[Andrey83]

This was film was good. It really made you think. Very ingenious. shouldtn this thread be in the reviews forum?

*cough* Take a look at when the thread was started mate ;)

[Glordreen]

heh heh, yeah

[Jack]

Regardless of where it belongs....

My first viewing of this one drove me made. I knew I liked it, but was so in over my head during the last third that I was rendered almost incapable of really liking it, leaving me, as I think stonefaced_1 said, a little more neutral than I would have prefered. Maybe a B...B+

However, I watched it again last night. Holy. ****ing. ****. If you think the plot doesn't make any sense, think again. On just the second viewing I feel like I saw an entirely different movie. Everything fits. I understood more of it (I think), and with understanding comes SO much more dramatic weight to the actions in the last third of the film that I was simply spellbound. Shane is my new hero. Editor, actor, composer(!), director, this guy knows what he's doing. I think Carruth and Andrei Zvyagintsev (of 'The Return') deserve special Oscars for not only having AMAZING directorial debuts in 2004, but also just how well they stretched slim budgets. Rarely has a second viewing changed my feelings so radically about a film, but this one is really something special, and I can't wait to see what Mr. Carruth does next. Rent it guys, this one needs the traffic. A+

[EvilDeadNDN]

I really liked the style and way it was made (lookin forward tot he commentary) but overall the chars where just uninteresting. story went to fast for me to grasp. just too sped along. *shrugs* I still liked it and thought it was very, very well made. I love indie flicks, great learning tools.

EDIT: maybe I just need to watch it a 2nd time. Ill try that.